What Made Me Laugh?

What made me laugh this week?  In a word ...

Lydia.

Three snapshots of the sweet silliness of this girl who is growing up too fast and yet still has a way to go!  I love you Weeda Mae!

---

In the cuckoo-head moments before Brett got home on Monday evening, Ashley was practicing her reading by perusing the many magnets and spelling tests adorning the refrigerator door.  She prided herself on using a variety of accents to read the Princess Bride quotes posted there.

"Inconceivable!"  

"Hallo!  My name is Inigo Montoya!" 

"As you wish..."

As Brett slipped in (leaving the arctic gusts outside), Lydia greeted her father with, "Anybody wanna peanut?!?" in a rather authentic Fezzik accent.

---

Riding home from the grocery, Lydia was carrying on a rather intense conversation with her baby doll. At my inquiry about a particularly curious phrase, Lydia proudly informed me, "We are speaking Spanish."  

"Aahhh ... Can you say something in Spanish for me?"

... silence for a few moments and then ...

"Cinco.  Twento."

Bien dicho, hija.

---

Finally, while waiting in the van at the crosswalk for the kids, Lydia pointed to an activity book filled with mazes.  "Can I do these?" she asked.

"Uh, let me see." I flipped through the first several pages of the easiest mazes and found them all completed.  "These look pretty tough.  I don't know."

"I can do it.  I can," she declared, kicking her feet impatiently.

"Okey-dokey, here ya go."  I handed the book back to her and found her a pencil.

A few minutes passed in blissful silence as she worked on her maze.  At last she declared, "I did it!"

You nailed it, Sis.  Well done.

_____________________________________________

Prompt #5 - What made you laugh this week?

small things {eggs}

small things #58 ... eggs

Another breakfast has rolled around.  How can it be that we are doing the early morning dance in the kitchen again?!  Didn't we do this yesterday?

Baby S sits happily in her high chair.  A graham cracker clutched in one sticky hand and a handful of banana in the other.  She bangs the cracker on the tray and Gimli stays poised at her side watching for any crumb or cracker to hit the floor.

Ashley fills her plastic blue bowl with Cherrios and waits for me to pour her milk.  She giggles at Baby S and keeps her tray filled with munchies while avoiding the baby's slippery banana-hands.

Lydia balances on the kitchen bench and spoons pink yogurt from the carton.  Most of it makes its way into her breakfast bowl.  The creamy pink splotches she cleans up with her fingers and tongue.  

Aaron is grooving to the music pouring (rather loudly, it seems) from the iPod on the kitchen counter and waits for his bagel to pop out of the toaster.  He has a knife in one hand and is fiddling with the butter dish with the other hand.  He reaches up and pulls the cinnamon sugar out of the cupboard.

Norah stands patiently at the stove top staring intently into her pan of eggs.  She slowly stirs the creamy yellow custard.  She swirls around making a "S" with her white spatula; she is careful to scrape the edges of the pan.  The heat is turned down low and she tenderly keeps the eggs gently moving around the skillet.

She abhors dry eggs.  

She detests "skin" on her eggs.

She refuses to eat eggs that are over-cooked.

She is egg-act in her stirring.  

She is an egg-cellent egg scrambler.  

She has high egg-spectations for her breakfast.

Eggs ... if scrambling eggs was an Olympic sport, Norah would most certainly be medal-worthy.  An egg-stremely egg-citing event! 

small things {freckles}

small things #52 ... freckles

My big girl sits next to me on the kitchen bench.  She's telling me about her latest exploit on the balance beam.  Something about a leap, a quarter turn and an arabesque to scale.  I'm trying to focus on her words, but I'm distracted.

Distracted by her freckles.

At the start of summer there were several dozen sprinkled across her nose.  But now, at the half-way mark of summer, the sun has kissed her leaving hundreds of perfect freckles scattered across her face.

They cartwheel across her cheekbones, disappearing into her strawberry hair.

They spring from one side of her forehead to the other, tiptoeing among her blonde eyebrows.

They vault across the bridge of her button nose, delicate and dainty.

"Where did you get all those freckles?  You have hundreds."

"Probably thousands.  I don't want them."

"I adore them.  I want to kiss every one of them."

"That would take forever."

"I'd better get started."

Freckles ... just another of those tiny bits of my kids to treasure.  Even if they roll their eyes and back-walk-over out of reach.

Vacation Snapshot #6

I love that the Ouray fire department doesn't mess around when it comes to the kids' races on July Fourth.  If you are going to go all out and be first across that line, then you deserve some cold hard cash.

No candy.
No Oriental Trading gizmo.
Straight cash.

Here are a few snapshots of our racers in action ... and a few of them came home a few dollars richer.

Ashley getting some pointers from her big sister.
"Run fast."

Aaron eyeing up the competition. "I could take you."

Norah and her friend working together ...
In, out, in, out, in, out.

And then there are the two cutie patooties ...

Please forgive my boisterous cheering and shaky camera-work.  It was pretty intense.

While I love Lydia's enthusiastic jumping and pride at hopping across that line in first place, I absolutely adore Cousin Bethany's potato sack walk/hopping and her "aw, shucks" response at the end.  But more than anything, I treasure what I didn't catch on camera ... Lydia splitting her winnings with her Beffy.

The true winner of the day!

Vacation Snapshots #3

Without any actual planning on our part, we unintentionally planned our family get-away to coincide with the Olympic trials for swimming and gymnastics.  Two of our family's favorite sports.

I swam as a kid and I love watching the swimmers defy the odds - whittling down world records, a tenth of a second at a time.  And as you know, our girls live and breath gymnastics and so to have an opportunity to see the best of the US go head-to-head was a treat.

The big screen TV at the condo was in the master bedroom, and so it was inevitable that we six fans would tumble onto the king-sized bed to watch the events unfold.

The kids brought the pillows from their beds and piled criss-crossed and scallywag across our bed.  They were focused on the wet and wild races between Phelps and Lochte.  They were riveted on the suspense building at the HP arena between Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber.  And they were barely containing themselves in their desire to reenact every back-flip and flip-turn.

Before our very eyes, our kids were transformed into Olympic hopefuls:

Norah found the springy-ness of the king-sized mattress almost too much to resist.  She front rolled off the edge of the bed into a handstand and let her legs thump back onto the comforter.  She bonked Aaron with her legs as she practiced her straddle splits from end table to end table.  She slid off the bed backwards and back-walk-overed through the bedroom door.  She also thought this was a great location for some balance work ... we discouraged her from doing this in the saddle:

Ashley was enamored with the spiral staircase that twisted up to the second-story loft.  She practiced her iron-cross on the handrails.  She perfected her hip swing: back and forth, back and forth, back and forth ... while suspending herself between the railings.  She flew through the air (and over the bottom four stairs) to land in a perfect 10 salute.

Not to be out done, Lydia enjoyed (and repeatedly requested) time on the jungle gym.  She climbed, swung and clambered over every surface.  She loved to monkey up the "rock wall" and shimmy down the ladders.  

And then, there was Aaron.  Our Aaron-boy morphed into a water-wannabe.  Every moment in the pool was spent practicing his free-style, pooching out his stomach to stay afloat on his back and perfecting his flip-turn.  But his very most favorite reenactment occurred before he even got wet.  Standing on the deck, he swung his arms around and around, windmill-style - just like Phelps.  The he swung them back and forth, criss-crossing them in front and behind himself - just like Phelps.  He shook his head from side to side - just like Phelps.  He shook out his legs, keeping them loose - just like Phelps.  All he was missing was the warm-up parka and the huge headphones.

Watch out 2020 Olympics ... we've got a couple of athletes who are just getting warmed up!

small things {backpacks}

small things #32 ... backpacks

Four kids, four backpacks.  

Aaron totes his sky blue Jansport pack.  He lets it slouch off his shoulders a bit - looking cool.  Earlier he filled it with library books, his lunch bag and a black plastic recorder that has taken up residence in his bag.  Most likely I would also find granola bar wrappers, a broken pencil or two and an important note from his school wadded up in the bottom.  If I cared to peek.

His buddy walks beside him, our neighbor boy and surrogate brother.  He pulls his weighty, navy blue backpack along behind him.  The wheels roll along the rocks and asphalt - rattle, rattle, rattle, sliiiiiiide - when the bag catches up with him, he flicks it back a few feet - rattle, rattle, rattle, sliiiiiide.  They talk and laugh over the noise of the rocking and rolling.

Norah moans next to me about the weight of her bag.  I have refused to carry it today saying, "I'm already pushing the stroller and kids.  You can carry the bag.  What do you have in there anyway?"  She rattles off a list of must-haves:  reading folder, homework folder, two library books, lunch bag and two water bottles.  I remind her that she could dump out the water and fill them up at school and she responds with a huff and runs off.  That's easier, I guess.

Ashley chats as she saunters along with her messenger bag slung over her shoulder.  As a Kindergartener, she doesn't have all the homework (or weight of the world) to carry.  She steps lightly around a puddle and jogs in an effort to catch Norah.  She slows and lets me catch up, "Mommy?  Can you bring my scooter up after school?"

Four backpacks carried by four kids.

No.  Make that five kids and five backpacks.

Today Lydia has decided to be big and pack her pink and white polka-dotted bag for our trek to school.  As she trots along, her backpack bounces off of her pj'ed little hiney.  And from within that terry cloth pack we can hear a little jingle, jangle, rattle.

"Whatcha got in there, Liddy?"

"Stuff."

A quick peek at the crosswalk reveals that she, too, has packed her essentials:  a half-dozen Easter egg maracas and her baby-pink leather slippers.  Perfect.

Backpacks ... bags of burden, but also a badge of being BIG.

small things {two left feet}

small things #15 ... two left feet

Lydia ran all the way home from school.  On the trip down the hill, she jogged, ran, skipped, twirled and pranced.  I watched her hair fly out to the sides as she trotted a few feet ahead of me.  Every few moments she would pause and turn around, just to make sure I was still there.  Her bright grin told me she loved the freedom of being out of the stroller.

Only babies ride in the stroller.

As we walked along, I took in this little girl who is growing into a kid.

Her brown hair was tousled in the back.  The zebra print pillow on her bed had left her a lively cowlick right there in the back.  Three different parts headed in three different directions.  Her attempts at combing had been in vain.

Her hot pink shirt sported a sparkly zebra wearing turquoise sunglasses.  Her new favorite shirt.  The shirt that never quite makes it into the dresser drawers.  She is more prone to stash it on the dresser top as she carries her clothes to put away - marking it to wear tomorrow.

Her sweet capris were already dusty on her bottom.  In less than 30 minutes, she had managed to find a dirty little spot to stop and inspect a treasure trove of stones and pebbles.  The little elastic bands that help to adjust her pants curled up out of the waist band and poked her in the belly.  Big girl pants that almost fit.

Her hot pink socks matched her t-shirt.  They were slouchy.  The elastic gave out years ago when Norah's little tootsies wore them, but they are the perfect color and so they stay.  One was tugged up toward her knee.  The other wass sneaking down into her shoe.

Her shoes.  Oh, her shoes.  She had chosen her hot pink tennis shoes.  They matched her shirt and they matched her socks.  She picked them out herself.  But one look reminded me that she is still little.  She may have dressed herself this morning and she may be big enough to run alongside the stroller, but she's still little enough to need help with her shoes.

Apparently she woke up this morning with two left feet.

Two left feet ... her shoes are mixed up, but she's still big.  And fast.

small things {her part}

small things #14 ... her part

Her hair parts straight down the middle.  Front to back with each hair in place on either side.  A precise part.  A perfect part.  A severe part.

I can see where each tooth of the comb straightened her strawberry blonde hair; making little lines.  Little furrows.  She stands at the mirror, comb in one hand and a squirt bottle in the other - looking for any renegade hairs that refuse to follow the crowd.  A furrow in her brow, as well.

This exact and meticulous part is a reflection of my girl.  She received an double dose of perfection upon her birth.  A generous portion from her mommy and a liberal serving from her daddy.  We apologize on a regular basis for this gift.

She looks in the mirror and studies the color of her turquoise rhinestone earrings.  Do they match the blue-green of her shirt?  Almost.  She twists her lips into a pout, considering a change to her jewelry.  She settles on the silver and gold hoops.

"They go with everything, right Mom?"

This meticulousness is evidenced in her school work.  Practicing her y's and h's to get just the right loop.

This accuracy is revealed in her gymnastics.  She has the pointiest toes and the pointiest fingers.

This precision is displayed in her attitude toward herself and others.  Measure up or tears are sure to follow.

She fears being 2 minutes late.  She cringes at not having her homework finished.  She chews on her lip  when faced with a correction.

I long to ease this anxiety and show her that a little failure doesn't cause the world to come to an end.  I wish I could help her relax and go with the flow a bit more.  I want to fluff her hair and free her from this rigidity and perfectionism.  But that's God's job.

And I know that I can trust her to Him.  He has freed her mother in amazing ways.

Her part ... evidence of her discipline.  And her need for grace.  Just like the rest of us.

Snapshots of the Heart ~ Perseverance

A little show of hands from you Moms who have experienced/endured this:



Yep.  Me, too.

While my kids need no encouragement in their perseverance to get my attention, there are still areas of their sweet little lives that need a shot of stamina.  A commitment to endure.  A tenacity to see things through.

It is our human nature to throw in the towel when faced with challenges and my kids are no different.  Sometimes growing up, establishing good habits and learning new skills is overwhelming.  Sometimes we need someone to cheer us on.

As a mom, I find myself filling that role of cheerleader on a daily basis.

"You can do it!  Finish that job 100%!"

"Go team!  Let's get into the van with our shoes on but without any tears!"

"A-W-E-S-O-M-E!  Awesome, Awesome is what you are!
Please get a chore from the Bummer Jar!"

"D! D! Defense!  Don't go on the defense!
Just hang up your backpack!"

There are many, many areas of life in which I am hoping and praying that my children will persevere.

I know that my daughter can stop sucking her thumb.

I know that my baby can head to nap-time without daily going head-to-head with her Mommy.

I know that my boy can stay focused long enough to put allll the dishes away.

I know that my big girl can use a respectful tone of voice.  Even when she's frustrated.

I know that my daughter is going to be a great reader.

I know that my baby is going to be a great toy-putter-awayer.

I know that my boy is going to find his niche.

I know that my big girl is going to get her back hand-spring.

So many challenges to face.
So many opportunities to cheer.
So many choices to persevere.

"Go Team, Go!"

"Lord, teach my children perseverance in all they do, 

and help them especially to run with 

perseverance the race marked out for them."  

Hebrews 12:1

She Made It!

Our sweet Lydia is a late bloomer.  Much like Leo.



Last summer Brett and I made the commitment that if Lydia didn't start talking more by the Fall, we would look into checking in with a speech therapist.  Then the big kids went to school, Lydia was required to communicate her own needs for herself and now she won't stop talking!

Here are a few choice Weeda-isms to make your day:

When she is frustrated about a situation ... maybe her socks aren't on straight or her milk has escaped her cup ... she is known to declare, "That not awesome!"  She even adds a little pouty lip so you know just how not awesome it is.

"Dat match" is her favorite pronouncement.  As she goes about her day discovering similarities among other people's shoes, vans and scraggly baby dolls, she is quick to a announce, "dat match".  She's always on the look-out for more.

Recently I gave all the girls manicures and pedicures.  As you can imagine, in spite of my attempts to keep Lydia in one place, she's a wiggly one and before her polish had a chance to dry entirely, she ended up with a few smudges.  After finishing Norah's nails, I was admiring her long fingers and lovely  shaped, hot pink nails.  "Your nails are so pretty, Norah."  Lydia marched right up to me, shoved her little smeared thumbs in my face and declared in her grumpiest voice, "Dis not pretty.  Dis a mess."  She added a pouty lip for emphasis.

A few days ago we were running errands in the van when we saw a few people out walking their dogs.  She asked what they were doing.  (She has no reference of Gimli going for walks because he's a couch potato.)  I explained that they were out getting some exercise and that their dog needed a walk, too.  A few more blocks down the road and we spotted a gentleman walking along along the sidewalk.  From the back of the van I heard, "Oh no!  He lost his doggie!"  Hmmm ... not exactly.

In these post-Christmas days, we have been enjoying the many gifts that we received.  If you can imagine, a few of the items that Lydia opened that morning were so quickly unwrapped that I missed out on some of her gifts.  As a result, I have had to ask her a few times where a pair of socks or a head band came from.  Her response is, "I got dis Happy to You".  Ahhh ... this was in your stocking.  Got it.

Lydia is a super-duper helper with Baby S.  She spends much of the day reading to her, showing her how to play with her toys and "helping" her roll over.  Unfortunately, sometimes Baby S doesn't want to be read to, already knows how to chew on her teething ring and really, really doesn't want to roll over.  As you can imagine, this results in a few verbal protests from Baby S.  Lydia's response to her fussing is to immediately run for the paci.  As I explain to her that sometimes the baby needs some space and that sometimes she wants to talk, too, Lydia will inform me, "But BabyMantha crying really fast!"  Yes.  Yes, she is.  Let's give her some breathing room, okay?

Our Lydia has fallen head over heels in love with Diego.  Or as she likes to refer to him, "Eggo".  Whenever we are discussing what to watch for a few minutes, she insists on watching "Eggo, Eggo, Eggo", much to the despair of her older siblings.  I keep waiting to hear "Leggo my Eggo" ... but I don't think it's going to happen.

Our girl has also developed at three-syllable "No".  It goes a little something like, "Nooo-oooo-whah!" and is mainly used in response to a request for her to do something.  It's really great.  Of course, she does obey a lot of the time and I love that her response to my thanking her for obedience is an enthusiastic "Yelcome, Mommy!"

Lydia likes to use middle names when she is trying to get someone's attention.  Of course, that means that everybody has Ashley's middle name.  "Aaron Mae ... peas pass the bue berries.  Tank chew."

The season of independence has dawned in Lydia's life.  She is quite indignant whenever we attempt to help her with anything.  When we make the mistake of, say, pouring her milk or zipping up her sweatshirt, she will declare, "I do it myself!"  She will then demand that we go back in time in order to allow her to do the task from the beginning.  This is exhausting, but she is learning how to do a lot of jobs herself.  And helping her mommy grown in patience.

As you can see, Lydia has bloomed into quite a talker.

Now we're working on eating neatly ... and that's a whole new area of growth.

And a whole new challenge.

And a whole other need for prayer!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)


You know ... the usual trifecta of parenting!  

Time-Warp Wednesday ~ 365 days ago

For this Time-Warp Wednesday, I scrolled through my iPhoto files in search of some snapshots of the kids ... a few pictures to see how much they've grown in the year.  Here are some wonderful snapshots from almost exactly one year ago ...

Aaron now wears awesome glasses and can lay his head on my shoulder while standing side-by-side, but he has the same stunning smile and brilliant sense of humor.  He made the "Math Wall of Fame" at school and has proudly mastered his multiplication table.  He's his Mommy's little book worm and can most often be found with his nose buried deep in a novel.  What a terrific kid!

Norah grew four inches and gained ten pounds.  She is now modeling some rainbow bling in her little ears and is missing a few extra teeth.   But she's still cartwheeling and practicing her splits ... her flexibility continues!  She is graduating up to the competitive level at gymnastics and she can barely contain her excitement.  She continues to be my super-helper and I love that I can count on Norah to help around the house and with the little people who live here.

Little Ashley isn't so little anymore.  While she is still petite in stature, her heart is ginormous as evidenced by her generous spirit and her servant's heart.  She is loving Kindergarten and surprises even herself with the words she can read.  She happily counts to 100 upon request ... by one's, five's or ten's and she loves gym class and singing in music class.  But she's still our tender-hearted, thumb-sucking, snuggle-bug!  

Lovely Lydia is growing right before our eyes.  This year she graduated from Potty Boot Camp, discovered her fins in her first swim class and became Mommy's little helper with Baby S.  She has grown into quite the conversationalist and she loves to fill us in on all that is happening in her little world ... which is quite a lot!  She is still our dinner time entertainment and she continues to mimic everything she sees her sibling do.  Sometimes that's a joy (washing hands and cleaning up) and sometimes ... not so much (zerberting at the table and yelling, "Stop it!").  Her smile still brightens my day!

So yeah ... it's been a busy year!  But a rich, delightful, satisfying and significant year.

Here's to another 365 days to grown and learn and 

become who God has planned, in advance, for us to be!

Time-Warp Wednesday ~ Lydia Turns 3

Well, little Weeda ... this is it.  It's your last week to be two.  Starting on Saturday, you will officially be three.  And just when you finally figured out how to get those other three fingers to stay down so your thumb and pointer finger could show us you were two!  Now you have to tuck those two digits down and let the other three free ... yep, that's three!  So tricky, but you are growing into a big girl who can do those big girl things.

Actually ... there are a lot of things your almost three-year old self can do that you didn't used to be able to do.  When you were this big ...

Week 1 with my little Weeda

... you couldn't really do anything, but eat, sleep and fill your diaper.  But now that you are all grown up, you can do lots of great and wonderful things!

You can use your fork and spoon so well.  I know you still prefer to use your fingers, but you're getting the hang of it!  One of these days, we will get through an entire meal without you picking at it with your fingers.

You use the potty like a big girl and you even wash your hands.  You are a really good bubble maker.  And yes, your Mommy is so happy that you don't do pee-pee or poopy in your pants anymore.

You can sing songs, just like Ashley.  I love to hear your sweet little voice singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "ABC".  Even if you get the words are jumble-bumbled up, it's still sweet music to my ears.

You love to look at books.  And I love to see you sitting by the library shelf, surrounded by piles of books, studying the pictures and turning the pages so carefully.  You treat our books so gently.

You are a super-duper helper with Baby S.  You are so good at fetching my burp rags and diapers.  

You are also a good friend to her ... she loves when you talk to her in your squeaky, teeny-tiny voice.

You make me so proud when you fetch your coat and shoes all by yourself.  I love that you can be big like that because it makes my day so much easier.  And when you dress yourself crazy in the morning ... that makes me super happy!  So independent!  Even if you have nothing that matches and both socks are on the same foot ... you did it all yourself.

You can toodle around the culdesac on your little pink bike.  Granted, it appears that you are biking in slow motion, your feet are moving so slow.  But ... give you a few months and you'll be racing around the bend and chasing Ashley up the driveway!

You brush your own teeth so well.  Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.  Your little teeth are so shiny when you're done, even though I think there might be more sucking and spitting that actual brushing.  Thanks for letting Mommy & Daddy help keep your smile sparkly.

You are a super-star at getting your shoes on all by yourself.  Of course you had trouble getting the right tootsies into the right shoes, but you have figured it out and now you have a 87% success rate.  Awesome!  Of course, right now your shoes are wonky, but next time you'll get it right!

You say your own little prayers at bedtime.  I love to hear your sweet Amen at the end of your tender prayer ... even if I'm unsure of what you actually said.  Gratefully, God knows what you say!

You laugh and smile and giggle and squeal and snicker and grin and chuckle and shriek and sparkle and shine ...

Week 156 with my not-so-little Weeda

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sweet Lydia!  

You make my heart so happy!

Time-Warp Wednesday

Last Wednesday, I warped back to Aaron's Halloween as an alligator.  And a had a good giggle again remembering how he bumped and jumped out of his costume until he was just a kid in a onesie.  Classic.

This week while grocery shopping, I was surprised to find that the Halloween items were all 70% off and squished to one side in order to make room for ... 

No, not Veteran's Day ...

No, not Thanksgiving ...

Christmas!

Already!?!

How is it that we can go directly from October 31st to December 25th, while leaping right over the entire month of November?!?

Maybe Norah had something to do with this.  For her third Halloween, she ushered in Christmas in record time with her unexpected request to be ...

No, not an elf ...

No, not Mrs. Claus ...

The big guy himself, Santa!

She cracks me up!  

With faux-fur cuffs (made from white felt) stitched to Aaron's fireman jacket, matching cuffs stitched to a pair of red pants from Good Will and a triangle of silky, curly, furry fabric tacked inside her Santa cap for a beard she was ready to, "Ho, Ho, Ho!" her way through Halloween.

Just one more example of Norah thinking (and playing) outside the box! 

Cartwheeling for Jesus

Today is my biggish, little girl's eighth birthday.

There are a number of distinctive qualities about Norah that make her who she is.  She is a forever student ~ the world, literally, is her classroom.  Sometimes it wears me out, all her inquisitiveness and curiosity!  She is an incredible helper ~ if I need something done, I go to Norah.  She has even gotten her dishwasher duty down to a science.  She is a funny girl ~ whether it's her quick wit or her funny faces and voices.  She also has a delightful giggle for when she cracks herself up!  She has a soft and tender heart ~ her tears come readily and quickly ... prompted by real life or events scripted out in books and on the screen.  Sorry, Honey, you get that from your Mom!

She is a gymnast ~ a cartwheeling, back hip-circling, coupé-ing, vaulting gymnast.  I am dizzy with the things she can make her body do!  I love it!

We are anticipating a bit of a change in Norah's gymnastics.  For a year we have known that she would most likely move up to the competitive level.  They invited her last year and we wrestled with the idea for a few weeks.  How would it work?  Adding a night of practice, adding additional (actual) meets, adding to the commitment, adding to the skills she has mastered, adding to the busy-ness of our family, adding to the demands on her little life?  In the end, we opted to keep her back ... twelve months to give us some time to prepare, to wrap our heads around potentially living at the gym, to "just keep having fun".

Norah in her sweet and not-seven-year-old maturity accepted our decision, but she has been biding her time until January.  Her passion has not wavered.  Her focus has not faltered.  Her excitement about gymnastics has not lessened.  Her technique has not grown sloppy.  She loves it!

Over the course of the summer, I continued to wrestle a bit with the amount of time, energy and money that we were intending to put into Norah's gymnastics.  At least, that is, until God shared a little bit of His heart.

He has gifted Norah in a lot of ways.  She is a student who will be discovering on a daily basis the wonders of the world ... and the Creator who set it in motion.  She is a servant to her family and her classroom and her teammates ... Jesus has put His servant's heart in her heart.  She is a goofball because a lot of life is funny ... and when life isn't funny, her joy isn't squelched because her heart is in the right place.  She is a softy, just like Jesus wants her ... hard hearts don't experience the intimacy with God like a child-like heart does.

And she is a gymnast because God made her that way ... and it brings Him joy to see her cartwheeling, back hip-circling, coupé-ing and vaulting!  He loves it!

There is a line from "Chariots of Fire" in which the runner, Eric Liddell describes his own passion in this way: "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." That gives me goosebumps every time!  Feeling God's pleasure because he was doing what God designed him to do.  To run!  And in Norah's case ... to cartwheel, back hip-circle, coupé and vault!


When God laid this on my heart, my entire perspective changed!  I would never want to come between the gifts that Norah has and God's purposes ... and His delight.  In a curious way, when Norah sets her heart on tumbling or bars or the balance beam, she is worshipping God - because when she uses her gifts, it makes God's heart happy.


I don't know what else God has in store for my girl, but in the meantime she'll be practicing her back hand spring ... and making God smile.


Happy birthday, Nuna-girl!

¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides. If anyone is gifted with crazy flexibility, super pointy toes and springy feet, they should use those gifts, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11, with a little liberty from me)

Day 1:  Mom in the Midst

Day 2:  My Button is Lame

Day 3:  Splendidly Lavish

Day 4:  Keeping My Head Above Water

Day 5:  Time-Warp Wednesday ~ Little Me

Day 6:  Me, Myself & I

Day 7:  Food For Though ~ Bacon

Day 8:  The Aches and Pains of Service

Day 9:  I Heart You

Day 10:  Who is Me? {part 1}

Day 11:  Who is Me? {part 2}

Day 12:  Who is Me?  {part 3}

Day 13:  Handmade with Care

Day 14:  Food For Thought ~ Carmel & Apples

Day 15:  A Bunch of Rocks

Day 16:  Not Recycled ... Redeemed

Day 17:  What Do You Do?

Day 18:  Washed on the Delicate Cycle

Day 19:  Know Thy Limits

Day 20:  One Snapshot ~ Many Stories

Day 21:  Food For Thought ~ Malt-O-Meal

Day 22:  Cartwheeling for Jesus