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We aren't doing too much around here this weekend. Just a lazy couple of days trying to stay warm! It is freezing outside.
Maia had an Upward Basketball game yesterday and that is seriously, the only thing we left the house for! Her game went well. They didn't win but each girl on the team is improving every week. I LOVE it because it is Christ centered. The kids earn stars for verse memorization:) And they...wait for it...PRAY before every game!! Plus, they make a really big deal out of all the players. The kids get to run through a tunnel of fans and have their names called out over the loudspeaker!! When you add in strobe lights and loud entrance music it definitely makes the kids feel like SUPERSTARS!! Even the spectators get a devotional during halftime.
So I have been reading this book series, Shenandoah something or other by Emilie Richards. It's just a light, fluffy novel, not much thinking required --nothing fantastic but the story has kept me interested. It's kind of neat because there is a story within the story. The story within the story is actually what has kept me most fascinated. It's like a flashback to the ancestors of the characters in the book.
It struck me that the ancestors that the stories are about, are not all that far removed from the present day characters. Yet these characters know next to nothing about them. Which made me think about my own family. My great grandparents were a VERY important part of my life. In fact, I have been very blessed to know and love ALL of my GREAT grandparents. Yet, my kids know NOTHING about them! Not even their names. They may remember little snippets of stories that I tell, but probably nothing of significance really sticks with them. My 3 will grow up and probably only have vague memories of me telling them stories of a farmhouse that held the most wonderful people ever. People full of lovely stories of 1 room schoolhouses and naughty antics with their siblings. People who loved and spoiled me beyond reason. It makes me so sad that all these wonderful memories will probably die with me. Our lives are so fleeting!! And 2 generations later we're barely a memory in someone else's mind.
My children have had the same blessing in their lives and they each have special relationships with their own great grandparents. I really need to get it together and start scrapbooking/journaling again. That way my kids will be able to share their own special memories with future generations. No one should be forgotten! Most especially, a crabby grandma that used to run and jump across hotel beds to wake sleeping children up!! Or a grandma that makes the best food ever, and always has time to pull out her stash of toys to play with you.
So Missy May is 9 years old now. She has always been the sweetsest, most compliant little thing. Always willing to help when needed. She has always seemed mature beyond her years, but yet still very innocent and naive. She still plays with Littlest Pet Shop toys and of course American Girl dolls! She'll tell you herself that she is not ready to grow up yet. But she has gotten a bit of sass to her lately!
She was spending the day with one of her many bff's last week. We specifically told her to NOT even ask to spend the night because we had some family plans that she needed to be here for. We also told the bff's parents the same thing...but that's a whole nother story! So Missy May calls an hour after we dropped her off to ask, wait for it, if she could spend the night!! You knew that was coming right:) She proceeded to call several more times throughout the 8 hours that she was there. At that point we had had enough and Andy went to pick her up. She knew he was at the door. And she HID! Poor guy stood outside, in freezing January temps, for over 15 minutes!! Where were bff's parents you may wonder? Again, whole other story there. When Andy Finally got into the house, Maia begged and pleaded--she wanted to know why in the world she COULD NOT stay. Andy said she was relentless. Now this is where the loop comes in. In the car, on the way home, She started crying and asked Andy WHY IN THE WORLD HE HAD WAITED SO LONG TO PICK HER UP!! He was baffled. I think he was stunned into silence.
When they got home he related the whole story to me and I decided I had to know what was going through my girl's precious little head. She admitted that she really really wanted to know WHY she wasn't allowed to spend the night. But, in truth, she really didn't WANT to spend the night. In fact, she was quite upset that we LET her stay as long as we did! But yet, she REALLY REALLY wanted an answer as to why we WOULDN'T let her stay.
When I explained it to Andy he got a kind of confused expression and then that sideways head tilt that says "HUH?!?!?!...I don't get this". So I explained it more in depth. I said "Congratulations Daddy...you have a GIRL!!!".
Well. Here I am. Starting over. My old blogger account, which consisted of 4 blogs, is impossible for me to access. I am so incredibly sad. I have had that journal for 4 years now. Much of my family's life has been documented there. There is no way for me to log in now though and Blogger said they have done all they can do. Which wasn't much. Let's face it though, the two blogs that were public? Have been like a forgotten wasteland for over a year now. Maybe it was time to start over?
My family is in a new season of life. Sadly, the baby years are behind us now. My mothering role has changed a bit since I started that first blog. Don't get me wrong--much of my everyday life is staying the same. I haven't drastically changed things up. But my kids are changing--growing. As much as I want to hold on to them with all my might, it's time to let them grow wings. Someday, they're going to need those wings to fly solo. It's my job to prepare them for that day. It may seem like the day when they leave the nest is far off in the future--but if I've learned anything this past 11 years, it's that life happens fast. Before I know it they'll be heading out the door without a backward glance.
That's where the wings, or life experience, comes in. I've got to make sure that when they go, they know how to make wise decisions and how to take care of themselves. That they know how to follow and worship the Lord. That they know how to take personal responsibility. Of course I've been doing all of these things all along, but now it's time to add more purpose into the mix. For all of my mothering life I have been so focused on giving my kids roots, which I am still going to be making a huge priority, that I may have neglected their wings just a bit. I have probably been in denial--thinking that they would just stay with me forever and never need their wings to fly solo. But that's not really God's purpose for us is it? He specifically tells us to "leave our mother and father". As much as I want them to stay little-they're going to grow up! They are going to go out and start their own lives. I want them to be successful. I think that means that I may need to start letting them fail a bit now. Fall down so that they can learn to pick themselves back up again. It means not rushing to their aid at every bump in the road. But instead, being there to offer guidance, support and many many prayers. My kids are still young. I'm not going to give them too much freedom quite yet, but I do need to widen their cage some. Give them more room to grow. That way when the day comes that they do fly solo--they won't be flying blind.
If you were a follower of my old blog, this one is going to look much the same. Just a journal of my little flock's day to day journeys.
