6-20-11 Happy Birthday Tori

Our Tori is beautiful and sweet,

A Godly young lady to meet.

Compassionate and kind,

A rare gem to find,

Tori you just can’t be beat!

Well Tori, I know I’m not the best poet in the world, and even if I was it would be hard for me to describe you in verse. Even without poetry, it’s difficult to sum up all that you are and all that you do, because you are so much and do so much. Then again, I guess I could just say Tori runs the house while Mom teaches, and that would kind of sum it up! But even that’s not exactly accurate, because I still do most of the managing, while you do much of the work. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. First a bit of review about Tori. Levi was three, and Jesse was not yet two when Tori was born, and oh how excited we were to have a little girl. We felt so blessed to have two little boys, and then God gave us a little girl; we were so excited and thankful. Tori was a healthy baby, for which we were thankful, but she was oh so very fussy as a newborn. She had many tummy aches, and at nighttimes Dad & I would take turns rocking her while she cried. I clearly remember Dad going to bed around 9:00 and I would rock her, trying to console/comfort her. Usually it didn’t do any good, but I just couldn’t stand to leave her in her bed to cry alone. Then around 11:00 I would be exhausted beyond belief, and Dad would take over until around 1:00 at which time Tori would finally fall asleep. Levi and Jesse were pretty content babies, and we thought babies were pretty easy… this new model quickly taught us that not all babies were as happy as others. Tori’s fussiness (unofficially deemed to be colic) only lasted a few months, thankfully, and then she found her thumb and was a pretty happy baby after that. From the start she was a mama’s baby, but I didn’t mind that as I felt kind of cheated in a way out of Jesse’s baby-hood due to Levi’s serious health issues. So I just relished her cuddly clinginess and enjoyed every minute of it.  When Tori was born, we lived in a cute little house in Morton, 119 S. Liberty Street, and it only had two bedrooms. Levi and Jesse shared one room, with Levi in a twin bed and Jesse in a crib. There wasn’t room for another bed in the room, so Tori’s first bedroom was a playpen in our bedroom closet. She survived the ignominy of that experience and seemed to suffer no ill effects, but we were nonetheless glad to move her into a real crib in a real bedroom when we moved here to our current home. She was six months old when we moved, and we were glad to have more space for our growing family. And Tori grew right along with the rest of them, although she started out petite and still is. She’s the only one of our kids who will choose to eat an apple over a cookie.  Wish I could say she got that from me, but I can’t. *sigh* I’ll take the cookie any day. Well, so now Tori is fifteen. School has always come easy for her; last year she breezed through two years of math which means she’ll be starting geometry this fall. She enjoys math and isn’t opposed to pursuing a career in math education, although that decision is still a long way off. Tori also enjoys reading, and, although she says she doesn’t like it, she is nonetheless a good writer.  Last year I stopped teaching her piano lessons, and since then she’s been teaching herself whatever songs she chooses. I love to listen to her play; I think she enjoys it too. In the next few months I hope to get her started teaching piano lessons to Ben and Kate; once I teach her how to teach I think she’ll do fine.  This past April she started taking guitar lessons, and oh, how I enjoy listening to her practice. I enjoy her guitar playing, and Tori has been blessed with a beautiful voice which she also freely shares. Lately, she, Kate, and I have started to sing together in three-part harmony that we all completely enjoy; I hope we have more time for it when the fast pace of summer slows again.  It’s also rewarding for me to hear her play the guitar beyond her required practice time; it’s a simple verification to me that she enjoys it too. Which is key for progress in any musical endeavor – if there’s no enjoyment, practice will be absolute minimum and half-hearted besides, and progress will be slow. I’m glad to see (hear) progress; it is very encouraging. In addition to her school and music studies, Tori does everything around here that I do except haircuts…and that probably won’t happen for awhile yet!  From baking to meal preparation to ironing to patching to gardening to canning/freezing to cleaning….she does it willingly, she does it cheerfully, she does it quickly, and she does it well. And I’m so thankful for her, because I don’t know how I would get it all done without her. Tori regularly does tasks in half the time it takes me to get them done, and I felt better when I finally realized why: she is rarely interrupted like I am. The phone rings, littles need discipline or correction, I have to call the orthodontist, Jacob needs help with math, Sarah needs help on a word she’s sounding out, Jewel needs a band-aid, Ben wants to show me something, Joshua needs a nose wiped, a diaper changed, or a snuggle with Mommy……the list goes on and on, as any mother knows!  For the most part Tori is not subjected to those interruptions, and she just keeps working away at a rapid steady pace. She’ll get ‘er done, I know, and it’ll be done well, to my standards (unlike some of her siblings who will remain unnamed).  In the past I have asked Tori to do some teaching of the littler ones, and she does well at that too, but I prefer not to have her do that because our younger children need time with me more than anything else they need; on busy school days, my tutor time with them is sometimes the only individual time they have. In her spare time, Tori enjoys reading, playing piano and guitar, and spending time outside, especially on the swing or playing with the kittens. Did I mention that she also likes helping make stakes and working on building projects, like making the horse pen and stall? Definitely Tori would choose outdoor work of any kind over indoor jobs, but I’m so thankful she recognizes that I need her help inside and she’s willing to give it.  She still manages to get in on a good share of the outdoor work fun besides, thanks in good part to her get ‘er done attitude.  Before we started this blog, Tori also did a lot of scrapbooking for and with me; I’m thankful for and enjoy her blog posts now although I think she’d rather do the other house and garden work and leave the blogging for me. (Hmm. I just asked her, and surprisingly learned that she’d rather blog than do certain other jobs. Maybe she’ll be doing more blogging …)  Frankly, I think her writing is much better than mine, as she inherited the Rinkenberger funny writing gene that skipped me.  On the mild-wild scale, Tori is definitely more on the mild end. Although she has the energy of a wild child, she generally uses it very productively and is quieter than our other kids who are more on the wild side. I’m glad we have both! It’s definitely nothing short of miraculous how God put our family together one by one and shaped each one so differently from the others although much the same also. Tori began her walk with the Lord Jesus Christ when she repented of her sins almost three years ago, and since then it’s been a joy to see her grow in grace and knowledge of His ways. Her humble cheerful attitude and Godly example to her younger siblings have been a huge blessing to our home; and I know Tori is thankful for the peace and confidence that she experiences being covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Lest you think Tori is perfect – she’s not and she knows it. She’s still on the workbench just like all of us are; there are many areas in which God is still shaping her for use in His kingdom. But Tori has a willingness to listen and learn that is very humbling to Dad & me, and we know that God in heaven is glorified by her walk with Him as she strives to please Him in everything she does. Tori hopes to be baptized in the next few months; although we have no date set we hope to do that soon. Tori, I started this post by saying it’s difficult to sum up all that you are and all that you do, because you are so much and do so much. This is by far the longest birthday post I’ve written so far, and I could still write more but need to stop because you just might be getting bored! I’ll end by saying that we are so glad God chose to put you in our family; He who knows all knew that we would need you to help us raise the rest of the blessings He had prepared for us! Thank you for your invaluable unending help, your faith and love for the Lord, your musical abilities which you willingly share with us, and your beautiful smiles and gentle ways. We love you so very very much!

Precious baby girl….

…beautiful young lady.

Happy Birthday, Tori!