#sienna wagner

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wagnerfamily Happy birthday to the ANGEL of the Wagner family: Stella! This girl...I am such a lucky mom to have a daughter who is so beautiful and Godly! She takes such good care of herself and always does the right thing, whether it's at home, at church, or in the world. Stella has been the most helpful soul since the moment she could walk. Every time I look at her she's comforting a younger sibling, or tidying some room, or filling our home with beautiful music. Just recently, she was kind enough to be the "date" of a boy from our church's youth group who asked her to the quarterly social. Of course, she's far too young for a real courtship, but since it was in a group setting, Colin and I encouraged her to go in order to avoid hurting the young man's feelings. Sweet Stella was so concerned when we brought up how ashamed he might be if he were rejected that she immediately agreed to attend with him! Isn't she such a doll? She was baptized youngest out of all her siblings, and looking at her now, that's no surprise! What a credit to our family she is. Happy birthday with love from Mom/Sophia!

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Transcript below the cut

Dear Stelly,

Happy birthday! I'm so excited to be teenagers with you. You're so kind and positive and fun. I wish I was more like you. I'm not, but it's okay, because you're here. I still laugh whenever I remember the look on Toby Schrader's face after you made him stop being mean to Carrie. What a ridiculous little boy.

You're the best person I know. (For the Toby Schrader thing and a million more reasons.) Don't tell anyone, but you're definitely my favorite sibling too.

I love you! I hope you enjoy your present!

❤️❤️ Sienna

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brindletonbaybaptist Blessed to host ISCS friends from across the country at this year's Summer Fellowship Banquet!

carlymae.k so great to see my San My friends again 🥺

opal._.davenport always so fun!!

coolguyeperry 🙌

(second photo L-R: Freya Schrader (9), Claire and Shepherd Wagner (12), Oscar Davenport (11))

(fourth photo L-R: Elon Perry (26), Rylee Sinclair (16))

(fifth photo L-R: Sienna Wagner (15), Aurelia Maxwell (14), Opal Davenport (16), Olivia Davenport (14))

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Sienna is a teenager! Time really flies. She's still just as ladylike as she's always been, though unfortunately in the last five or so years she's been plagued with bouts of low mood and apathy. Whenever these "episodes" happen, I counsel her to pray fervently for God to put a smile on her face and wipe away the Enemy's influence--usually to little success, I'm sorry to say. She just doesn't dedicate herself to prayer like she should, otherwise she'd have a happy countenance 24/7. For now I'm not bothering her about it too much, because she isn't rude, she manages to keep her spirits up when we're filming, and if nothing else at least she keeps a trim figure. But if it's still a problem by the time she's ready for courtship, then we'll revisit. We can't have her hiding away in the girls' room when boys are knocking at our door!

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We headed to the dentist today so Catherine and Sienna could get braces! I am so proud to say that despite Sienna's usual bossy, my-way-or-the-highway attitude, she put up no fuss when I sat her and her sister down to explain what was happening. In raising my children I strive to emphasize the importance of maintaining a pleasing countenance. It is crucial to always put our best foot forward as a family so nobody feels ashamed to be a Wagner!

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After a year of supervised special friendship, Sienna and Michael are officially courting! Michael flew in to Brindleton Bay around Sienna's birthday "to see some extended family members" and completely surprised her by asking her out to our local Italian restaurant. We took some adorable photos of them all dressed up at home before sending them off (with chaperones + SLC, of course!) to enjoy their night.

I wouldn’t be surprised if these two got engaged the moment she turned eighteen! Long distance is always hard, especially for young people in love. Luckily Michael is a high performer at his job and Willow Creek is a very low cost-of-living area, so they won’t have any trouble affording the right kind of lifestyle if they do get married quickly.

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michaelholloway 🔒 Met a pretty cool girl over winter break 😊

van..petersen 🔒 YOOOOOOO

mrscadencerusso I think you did too! 😜

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Excerpt from the diary of Sienna Wagner

...and Mother didn't want me to tell him about my tired days, in case it "scared the poor boy off," but we had a moment alone at the end of last week's call and I decided to tell him anyway. If I didn't then, Stella would have made me do it some other time, because she doesn't want me to marry any guy who'll get upset if it happens once we're married and sharing a room. Which makes sense. Hopefully I'll be so happy when I get married that I won't even have to worry about it. It can happen! At Family Camp last year, there was a speaker with exactly the same problem when she was my age, and when she got married, she found the Grace in her heart to overcome it and now she has six children and she wakes up at 5am every single morning. But just in case it doesn't go away, I'm glad he knows now. We only had a minute to talk but he didn't seem upset at all!! And he told me all about his aunt with Lyme Disease and how she's tired all the time, too, but it's okay because his mom goes around to help out sometimes so his uncle doesn't have to do the...

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We're still in Willow Creek visiting with Cadence and Milo. We're so lucky that Milo inherited such a large home, because it means there's enough room to comfortably accommodate us all!

While we're here, us ladies are taking the opportunity to make stacks of freezer meals, while the guys are helping Milo set up the nursery. And of course we've been getting plenty of footage for Follow the Wagners all the while! This year makes our 11th season. We are so grateful the Lord entrusted us with such a unique ministry!

It's been such a fun trip. We celebrated Catherine and Simon's eighteen birthdays a few days ago--more on that later--and we've also been taking the opportunity to socialize with some likeminded Christians from another part of the country. All the Russos attend Willow Creek First Baptist. The convictions of most families who attend are a little looser than our family's personal convictions, but they're still an incredibly Godly congregation. And it's an ISCS-affiliated church, which is the most important thing! Colin and I were even asked to speak at a few events, since we're co-founders, which was just such a blessing. Besides our children, ministry is the center of our lives!

Another blessing: around the time we arrived, some of the teens enjoyed an evening social for youth aged fifteen to twenty at WCFB. Sienna wasted no time getting to know a young man at that very social! His name is Michael Holloway. He's seventeen years old and just started a good job at a local construction company after his early graduation from homeschool last spring. Sienna's only fifteen so courtship's off the table for at least another year, but the Russos confirmed Michael's good character, so we've allowed them begin building a "special friendship" via supervised long distance. (Once we return home, that is! For now they can spend time together during group outings.) Milo and Cadence had the exact same arrangement in the early days of their relationship, and now look where they are!

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Stella: Sienna? What's wrong?

Sienna: [sniffling] Oh! Um, nothing. Sorry, Stelly.

Stella: What is it?

Sienna: I--

Stella: I won't tell anyone!

Sienna: You promise?

Stella: Yeah, I promise.

Sienna: ...okay. I got in trouble again with Mom. Because of my atti--[sniffling] "attitude problem."

Stella: Your what?

Sienna: "Attitude problem." It means I don't have a joyful countenance always. But I can't...can't...I don't know how.

Stella: Oh. Well...maybe you can pray that Jesus will make you happy? He makes me happy.

Sienna: Yeah, I guess. But even when I pray Mom doesn't like it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Stella: Oh. [thinking] I'll pray for you, Nini. So you don't have to worry about messing up. And...and...you don't need to have a joyful, um, countenze with me. So you can save your joyful countenze energy for Momma.

Sienna: [sniffling] Thanks.