Saturday, my baby turned 9 years old. That's so hard for me to get ahold of. One more year, and she will be sprinting towards becoming a teenager - that's a thought I just can't handle at this point.
Julia is such a special girl, and I don't say that only because she's mine. If everyone was really able to get to know her the way I do...her laughter, her sense of humor, her quick witt....to watch her play, and imagine, and dream, you would think she is special, too.
It is suprising to me to see doubts about herself in her at such a young age. Being self-conscious about her freckles, wanting to please, wearing her heart on her sleeve and being upset if you don't take it and accept the love she's offering, I worry about her.
However, I have been noticing lately that she has learned to do something really special at such a young age. She has learned how to pray....to really talk to God. Not like He's some big, bad King sitting on his throne ready to give out punishment, or like He's some genie in a bottle there to fulfill her every wish, but to really talk to Him like He's sitting next to her in the chair beside her and they're having a conversation. Her prayers never cease to amaze me, especially the depth of them sometime.
This year when I wrote her birthday letter, I reminded her of her ability to pray, and how important it will be to her later in life as she has to deal with things that require us to run to the Savior for help. She will already know how to touch Him by simply saying His name and knowing He's right there.
I also reminded her of how happy I was when she was born, because she made our family complete, and she still makes it complete today.
I am so thankful for this special little girl that God gave us, and I cherish her everyday. How blessed I am to be her Mom!
Blessings!
Joy
Monday, December 18, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Late but still Thankful
It's been a while since I've posted. There are no words to say how crazy life has been the past few weeks, but I will try.
Let's start back at Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my Mom and Dad. Just being together, sharing a meal, getting up at 4:30 to go shopping (thanks Mom!). There's just something about getting out into the crowds that really gets the spirit of the season going. One of the highlights of the weekend for me was getting to see my Grandma Hagee. This was her 96th Thanksgiving! And though she looked small and frail laying there in her bed, there was still her bright smile on her face. I'm not sure if she really realizes how much her life has changed, however it really doesn't seem to matter much to her. She just smiles and enjoys the sunshine. Seeing her and my children with her made me so thankful to still have her in my life.
I had planned to put up my Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend, but we bought a new couch which we weren't going to pick up until the next week, so I really didn't see the need to get all of the Christmas stuff out when we were getting ready to change everything around. This did NOT sit so well with Julia. I think she had been dreaming about putting the Christmas tree up! I promised her when the new couch was in, we would put it up. But then our Christmas play happened, and life got really crazy. This past Friday night we were at church for dress rehersal so we decided to put it up on Saturday afternoon. I had errands to run and school work to do before being at the Church for our first performance on Saturday night so we decided to put it up when we got home Saturday evening because Greg and Joel would be there to help but when we got home, Joel was already in the bed asleep and Greg was asleep on the couch. So no tree. I went downstairs to work on my classes and here comes my wonderful daughter with a contract for me to sign - a mother-daughter contract - that said that we would put up the tree the next day. What was I supposed to do? I knew that with two preformances on Sunday, and with my parents and Eric's kids coming I would be pressed for time, but I HAD to sign it! So Mom was signed on my line, therefore committing me to putting up the tree the next day.
God is so good, though. Joel was looking for something to do Sunday afternoon, and I let him put the tree together. He likes doing stuff like that, and the Lord knew I really didn't have the strength to do it. It was late Sunday night when we got home, and Julia wanted to decorate the tree, but I just didn't have it in me, so we decided that we would all work on in Monday evening. And we did! And thus I fullfilled my contractual duties! :-) Now if I could just snap my fingers and all of my gifts be bought, wrapped, and sitting under the tree, I would be doing great!
The Christmas production we did at Church is an entirely different story. I was in the play part, playing the part of Abigail, the wife to Jonas, the Innkeeper. The story told is such a special one, and I can honestly say that there have been times during the past weeks that I was at my wits end because of everything that was going on in my life, but when we practiced, there was always something to laugh about. So much so that I'm sure the director wondered if we could get through it without laughing! God knew everything going on in my life, and He also knew it would be a tight fit for me to fit this in there, too. However, He knew that He was going to use it to bless me, and refresh me, and to bring me joy when I wasn't really in the mood to be joyous. The Lord has blessed our church with such talented people, and it was a priviledge to be apart of something so awesome!
I hope that you, too, had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will try to get up pictures next time -- until then...
Bunches of Blessings!
Joy
Let's start back at Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my Mom and Dad. Just being together, sharing a meal, getting up at 4:30 to go shopping (thanks Mom!). There's just something about getting out into the crowds that really gets the spirit of the season going. One of the highlights of the weekend for me was getting to see my Grandma Hagee. This was her 96th Thanksgiving! And though she looked small and frail laying there in her bed, there was still her bright smile on her face. I'm not sure if she really realizes how much her life has changed, however it really doesn't seem to matter much to her. She just smiles and enjoys the sunshine. Seeing her and my children with her made me so thankful to still have her in my life.
I had planned to put up my Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend, but we bought a new couch which we weren't going to pick up until the next week, so I really didn't see the need to get all of the Christmas stuff out when we were getting ready to change everything around. This did NOT sit so well with Julia. I think she had been dreaming about putting the Christmas tree up! I promised her when the new couch was in, we would put it up. But then our Christmas play happened, and life got really crazy. This past Friday night we were at church for dress rehersal so we decided to put it up on Saturday afternoon. I had errands to run and school work to do before being at the Church for our first performance on Saturday night so we decided to put it up when we got home Saturday evening because Greg and Joel would be there to help but when we got home, Joel was already in the bed asleep and Greg was asleep on the couch. So no tree. I went downstairs to work on my classes and here comes my wonderful daughter with a contract for me to sign - a mother-daughter contract - that said that we would put up the tree the next day. What was I supposed to do? I knew that with two preformances on Sunday, and with my parents and Eric's kids coming I would be pressed for time, but I HAD to sign it! So Mom was signed on my line, therefore committing me to putting up the tree the next day.
God is so good, though. Joel was looking for something to do Sunday afternoon, and I let him put the tree together. He likes doing stuff like that, and the Lord knew I really didn't have the strength to do it. It was late Sunday night when we got home, and Julia wanted to decorate the tree, but I just didn't have it in me, so we decided that we would all work on in Monday evening. And we did! And thus I fullfilled my contractual duties! :-) Now if I could just snap my fingers and all of my gifts be bought, wrapped, and sitting under the tree, I would be doing great!
The Christmas production we did at Church is an entirely different story. I was in the play part, playing the part of Abigail, the wife to Jonas, the Innkeeper. The story told is such a special one, and I can honestly say that there have been times during the past weeks that I was at my wits end because of everything that was going on in my life, but when we practiced, there was always something to laugh about. So much so that I'm sure the director wondered if we could get through it without laughing! God knew everything going on in my life, and He also knew it would be a tight fit for me to fit this in there, too. However, He knew that He was going to use it to bless me, and refresh me, and to bring me joy when I wasn't really in the mood to be joyous. The Lord has blessed our church with such talented people, and it was a priviledge to be apart of something so awesome!
I hope that you, too, had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will try to get up pictures next time -- until then...
Bunches of Blessings!
Joy
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