Biggest, wildest gift ever

 I want my children all to know that I cannot be expected to do this for all of you.

It's really a once-in-a-family opportunity.

But for Mariana, well, what can we say? It was just meant to be.

No one else will ever get a hurricane named for them ON their birthday.

We do what we can for our kids, don't we?

Now maybe people will know how to pronounce Ana. 

Now maybe you'll be able to find trinkets and knick-knacks with your name.

It's probably a good thing this didn't happen on the day you were born. It could have changed the whole trajectory of your life. And of The King's Strings. Instead of, "Hi, my name is Mariana. My parents say I was born with my mouth open and I've never shut it since. But that's a good thing because...," you could have introduced yourself with, "Hi, my name is Mariana but a lot of people just call me Ana ('cause my parents gave me one of those names that no one can pronounce and is too many syllables for everyday conversation). My parents say I came into this world like a hurricane and haven't fizzled out yet. But that's a good thing..." There's nothing wrong with being passionate, emotional, and dramatic. Even if it makes you the exact opposite of the mother who birthed you. I think in the end we survived the storm of growing up pretty well considering. Miraculous, even.

Either way, we're glad you're a strong, independent woman with hurricane-like qualities. It gave you the drive to choose a secular college in NYC, to stay true to God and Scriptures even when those around you did not, the strength to go on when others' choices tried to bring you down, and to rely on God when the doors you thought would be wide open, instead slammed shut. While others have handled 2020-2021 by sitting on their derreires staring at those doors to open, you just kept trying all the doors until God opened the one that was the right one all along. 

I love to see you doing what you love even if it isn't exactly what you thought you'd be doing exactly at this moment in time. I love to see you given favor in those places where God has placed you. I love to see you being you.