She is Him — She is Me — She is Herself

My daughter — there are so many words that could be used to describe her.  She is smart and oh-so-funny and makes a killer burrito (no joke).  She is kind-hearted and thoughtful.  She is all the best parts of her father and myself combined, but she is so fully just her.  She is coming into her own so beautifully and it is such a privilege to be her Mama; to be able to see her learn and grow every single moment of the day.

I’ve had some extra time this week to just sit and be, to think about what being a Mama really means — and noticing all of the little things in my children that make them so wonderfully them.  They are all amazing small people and sometimes I catch my breath to know that God has entrusted them to us to love, guide & protect.  If that doesn’t make a parent feel inadequate, I’m not sure what will.  I pray daily for guidance – for the Lord to show me what it means to really love my children & to give me the courage to do so.

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My world

I’m in the process of going through photos from the last 4 years to make albums for each of the kids.  I always thought I would scrapbook, and I’m reminded about once a year, “Oh yeah… wasn’t I gonna do albums for the kids?”  I’m bad like that.  So I’m making albums online for them instead, and even though I have a ton of photos to go through, at least I don’t have to cut them and buy all kinds of crafty do-das in order to make an album.  Anyway, going through all of these pictures makes me extremely emotional — pictures from the Big  Adoption Day, pictures from my daughter’s first (and only) ballet recital, birthdays, birth photos — all evidence that my children are growing taller, stronger, happier.  On one hand it makes me sad to see them growing out of their baby stages, knowing their hands won’t always be reaching for mine; that they won’t always need me to tie shoes and zip jackets.  But I’m happy, too – they are growing so wise, so funny.  They tie their shoes and make big decisions and leap over puddles; they tell stories and make capes out of blankets.  They ride bikes and build forts and rake leaves.  Their eyes sparkle when they make up songs and chase each other around and swing as high as they can go. They are everything that is good in childhood -  no – in life.

They are going to change the world someday — they’ve already changed mine.

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