Making Me Cry... In a Good Way

I think it's pretty typical for mothers and daughters to have somewhat tumultuous relationships. I know that with my own daughter, sometimes I am so proud and filled with love for her that I feel my heart might burst. Other times, she makes me so mad I want to rip my own hair out. This past week has been a little bit rough... she is starting to spread her wings, wanting to be more indepedent and not listen to authority as much. This often leads to yelling (mine) and tantrums (hers). Sometimes I honestly don't know how we will survive the next 12 years intact, and I just want to cry.

This morning she showed me something that she wrote yesterday. As I read it, I smiled, then I felt a little tug on my heart as I thought how cute it was, and finally I got a little choked up. This is what she wrote: In case it's hard to read, this is what it says:
"I have two brothers and no sisters. my brother that's fore is Caleb and my other brother that's zero is Ben I Love my brothres. My favorite thing to do is make projects and go on the chrampalen my favorite place to go is school. my favorite thing to do with my famliy on Monday's is to have familyhomeevening. My name is Olivia. I am six years old. And I know the chrch is chrooe." What can I say? I was pleasantly surprised. Which means that most likely, when she gets home from school today she will be beating up on her brother and telling me (yet again) that she wants new parents.