Sweet Ellie Girl,  Today you are five, and as I watch you twirl around the room free in the confidence and self assurance that comes with childhood, I can't help but wish that, for a moment, time could stand completely still so that  I could bottle up this version of your precious, little self.  Not because I want to keep you this small forever, but because I know that with each passing year, the voices of this world will threaten to chip away at that innocence little by little.   As your mother, I want to protect you from those losses because I understand the pain that accompanies them.  But in the same breath, I know that it's in those moments with broken hearts and shattered dreams that you find your strength.  Instead of trying to protect you from every painful season, it is my prayer that the Lord will give me the wisdom to fight your battles on my knees instead of giving into the temptation of fighting them for you. As I write this, you are wearing a leotard an