Bridget turns 11

December 2017

Bridget continues to grow up and continues to be a blessing. She has grown in independence and confidence and retains her discerning eye. Bridget likes to make things out of found items and has been creating little shops from small cardboard boxes. She has an amazing spacial sense and can free-hand draw a floorplan or build proportioned miniature furniture. Bridget frequently disappears silently to her room, puts in her earbuds to listen to music or an audio book and gets to creating. There is joy in that space. 

Bridget is still our JabberJaws, she likes to tell stories of her day or her ideas. She is full of details and shares so many that sometimes we have to draw out the main point. She is newly learning the language of sarcasm, and can recognize it, occasionally she uses it and surprises us when she does. Her genuine trusting self is getting wiser to the world. This makes me a little sad but also more confident that she will be able to navigate the jaded world.

Fifth grade has been an improvement over prior years. She is having a less chaotic year, and has good friends. Bridget is getting Orton-Gillingham instruction to help her function better with her dyslexia, and her teachers are solid. They appreciate her intelligence while supporting her through the learning disability. She does complain that the kids tend to consider her as less capable academically and it frustrates her, but I think she is gaining more confidence in herself.  A youth group leader recently sent me a message saying that he was impressed with Bridget and that she was a self-assured young lady. 

She has a personal sense of style, that avoids the slogan/sequenced/character clothing marketed to her age group and instead opts for simple but beautiful fabrics, that are pretty but not overly adorned. Bridget's incredibly thick heavy hair has made styling a challenge, but she now pulls two small sections back away from her face to keep her hair under control and give her a more put together look.

Bridget plays the french horn at school and dances twice a week. She is also active in her scout troop and the once a month Little Flowers group. Little Flowers focuses on the study of Saints. Bridget has a quiet faith and prays the rosary daily as she goes to bed.  She has a heart for others. 

On her actual birthday, we went out to dinner and came back to the house for her to open gifts. then at the end Bridget surprised us with a gift of her own. She grabbed her Nook and played for us a recording of her singing along to a song from the Dear Evan Hansen musical. It is an incredibly hopeful song called "You will be found". The sound was really low and some of the recording was hard to hear but the intention spoke volumes. She makes we tear up.
She wanted us to know: "Even when the dark comes crashing through
When you need a friend to carry you And when you're broken on the ground You will be found"

Bridget Rose Kehrman Happy 11th Birthday!