Connected

Had an "odd" moment with Paige yesterday.

During our morning routine, I was in the bathroom blowdrying my hair when I heard Paige say "Mom".

It sounded like she was standing outside the bathroom door. I turned off the hairdryer and said "Yeah?"

No response.

So I open the door and no Paige.

I look down the hall toward her room and don't see her. So I walk down there and ask "Did you just call me?"

She had this odd look on her face and said "In myyyy heeaaad."

It was weird.

She said that she needed something from the bathroom and the second after she thought about calling out to me...I said "Yeah?"

She'd heard that and thought it was kinda freaky and at the same time very cool. It was a really fun moment for me personally.

It seems that I have been in Paige's shoes before...

I wonder how often God gets that sort of reaction from us. How much fun is that for Him when we recognize that He heard us when we did not even speak.

The best gift you can give your children....

....is a good marriage. This truth hit me this weekend as I was sitting in church. Paige was sitting between the two of us and she always does this but it never occured to me why until that moment. It is so important to her that her father and I love each other that she finds comfort in having us hold hands. She will take my hand and put it in Dave's hand and then place them in her lap and hold them with her hands. It comforts her.

Dave and I have a great marriage. We are not afraid to show affection to each other in front of our children (totally in a G-rated way), we say "I love you" to each other and to them at least a hundred times a day and yet Paige still needs this...it is THAT important.

My new nemesis

So, it begins...

Paige had been the only person at her school bus stop for some time. This year there is a new girl, Alexis. She is a year behind Paige in school and at least a head shorter than Paige.

The first day, once the girls got on the bus, as I was walking back toward my house a green mini-van came careening at me and apparently it was Alexis' mother who had parked WAYYYYY down the road to watch her daughter get on the bus because Alexis did not want her mother to accompany her to the stop for fear of embarassment.

So, yesterday when Paige's bus arrived Paige gave me the normal half dozen hugs and kisses and professions of love and as I am walking off I see little Alexis lean in and sort of look at Paige funny and whisper something to her and then saw Paige grin and shake her head and smile at me and then they get on the bus.

So, last night I asked Paige what that was about. Apparently Alexis asked "Doesn't your Mom embarass you when she does that?"

Silly child...Paige let her know that it is SHE that initiates these things. Paige is a regular snuggle bunny. She loves hugs and words of affection. She has a hug and kiss routine for farewells and bedtime. If she has met you, she has probably hugged you good-bye. Up until now, no one has challenged her thinking.

Breanna was done with hugs and kisses before she went to kindergarten. She recently started to allow me to hug her again and it has taken - oh, about a year - for me to get used to her WANTING hugs again. So, with that being said I have been appreciating Paige and yet waiting for my younger daughter to be anti-affection.

Let's see how much influence little Alexis has on my Paige's way of thinking.

A Milestone for Paige

To help explain, I am going to share with you from Dan Vukmirovich's blog this excerpt:

"This weekend we will be asking people to cross the line of faith by walking through a doorway we have set up onstage. Pastor Mark Beeson, has evangelism flowing through his blood. It's at the heart of GCC. He talks about a farming approach to evangelism where we plant seed, water, fertilize, and patiently wait for people to be ready and then we harvest. Rather than asking people to make a decision for Christ every week, we do it only 1-2 times per year. Part of his rationale in this is that most thinking people don't make life changing decisions in 20 minutes. I agree."

Paige walked through that doorway this weekend. I was happy and weepy and well, I was a mom. She asked me to walk up with her but when it came to going up on the stage, and crossing through the doorway...she chose to go without me, I waited at the bottom of the stairs...her decision...her walk...her journey.

She has already chosen her next step...Baptism. On September 9th she is going to be baptised, (this date is also mine and Dave's wedding anniversary!) and when we registered her for the event there were questions for her to answer and I am going to share them with you:

What was your life like before you met Christ?:
Um, wow...I don't know

How did you realize you needed Christ?:
By coming to church

How did you commit your life to Christ?:
Walking through the door

What difference has God made in your life since you've begun this relationship with Him?:
made me believe in something that I can not see but I still know is there

La Vie Binge and Purge

Last night at the dinner table Paige asked Breanna to translate "La Vie Boheme" for her. Breanna told her that she thought it meant "the Bohemian life" or something along those lines. Paige being her 11 year old self was unsure about what the word 'bohemian' meant. So in her innocence she asked:

"Isn't bohemian when you stick your finger in your mouth and touch that little thing in the back and you puke?"

Breanna and Dave were quick on the draw to correct her and explain that "NO, that is Bulemia!"

....followed by roars of laughter (not at Bulemia but at Paige's incorrect interpretation)...priceless.

The Daddy Daughter Dance

The Daddy Daughter Dance was a week ago today

Paige became a princess (all the girls became princesses that night)

Dave got a glimpse of his little girl becoming a big girl

Not, much for ME to report. I played chauffeur.

Ask for details if you see them...they had a good evening together.

...and because I wont be doing this tomorrow....

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

"HE loves me MORE!"

This is something I wanted to share with the world but first I needed to share it with and thank the childrens ministry at Granger Community Church.

(I turned into a blubbering mess retelling this at our weekly staff meeting, but I think "blubbering mess" is pretty much expected from me by now.)

This past Sunday, after we attended services Paige and I were at the kitchen table chatting about her singing in this coming weekend's service with all the other kids and her memory verse from Ephesians and the lessons she learned in the Heir Force room at church....

I really don't recall the conversation very well because quite frankly this part shines in my memory like a beacon of light. She said something about God's love for her and I said "Well you know how much I love you?" (emphasis on the "I" because I have always made it quite apparent to my kids how much I love them) and she said "Yeah" and just as I was about to say it, she reached over and grabbed my arm and with wide eyes and a smile she said "HE loves me MORE!"

She knows. She understands that she matters. A goal accomplished with the help of friends. Thanks again to our children's ministry and the people in the Heir Force room.

Guess the costume

Okay, so I know you are wondering..."What the... is Paige trying to be?" So I will give you another clue:

You should be saying "OHHHH....Mary...I get it."

I guess her doll really wanted to dress as Jesus for Halloween. You know how we mothers are...anything for our kids.

little things

August 17th 2006 8:30 pm

Dawn: "Paige, time to start getting ready for bed, go brush your teeth.

Paige: no words spoken, is laying on the floor at the end of my bed and raises her hand that is holding up a spoonful of peanut butter (apparently her choice of a pre-bedtime snack)

Dawn: "Hurry up."

Paige: "You cant rush peanut butter"

Dawn: thinking only...ahhhh words of truth. Life is like peanut butter.
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The Drama of the Nose

Well, as some of you know, Paige has had the unfortunate privilege of having had her nose broken twice within a six month period. The first time happened defending the honor of a friend. A boy at her afterschool daycare pushed down her friend, so Paige pushed him down, and he got up and punched Paige in the face. After surgery I was not 100% happy with the correction they did but it was a great improvement (I can't seem to locate the BEFORE surgery picture of the first broken nose)

Six months later....she was at a friends house down the street playing on their trampoline and apparently she fell onto the springs and her knees flew into her face and broke her nose AGAIN. It was not quite as obvious to look at unless you looked at the x-ray but I do have a picture of her before surgery this time:


















This is after Surgery # 1 - I could still see the bridge of her nose is pushed to the right of her face a little bit but I think that only I, as her mother, could see it.





After Surgery # 2 I was MUCH happier

You probably can not see what I am talking about but I joked that her second broken nose was because God wasn't happy with the first one either and it was His way of saying "Do it right this time!"

As a precaution her doctor decided that it might be a good idea to have one of those masks made that the pro basketball players wear. So, here is Paige showing you what $600.00 worth of specially molded plastic looks like:

Amazing Paige

So I am just going to give you a glimpse at her doing something great! Climbing a rockwall all the way to the top - barefoot. This happened in June 2005 - many of the boys and the Army personnell running this rockwall were amazed and embarrassed by her speed and strength - wish I had videotaped it.







Here she is ringing the bell at the top (I have NO IDEA why the sun looks like that in pictures I take with my phone.)



And then - since she likes climbing so much....




She started climbing back DOWN - until we told her that it was okay to let go and let the harnesses do the work for her.