Mourning the Little Girl Who is Grows Up

I watched an ad for a twirly pink girl's dress that said, "Why not give her this while she's still little?" She's already too big for that dress I thought frowning. Flashes of  my little girl twirling in countless dresses, spinning and laughing fill my head. She's not little anymore I think. Sadness fills my throat. Those days are over I think, mourning the little girl she was.

These kinds of thoughts have been happening more often lately. My girl had a birthday last week. I didn't throw her a party this year for the first time ever, but she didn't mind, content with family, a few presents and a couple friends. I am proud of that maturity, but surprisingly I miss throwing her a fancy birthday party, with theme. "Those days are over" I thought. Yesterday I revealed to my husband that I was mourning the loss of those little girl birthdays. He looked straight at me and said, "But there is no loss in Christ. There are even better things ahead."

Then I saw the future; my girl growing in beauty inside and out. Her starting her own life with excitement and hope. Me getting to cheer her on and participate in any way she might need me. Her dad and I watching the story of her life unfold further and further as she becomes more independent and learns to love and be loved even more. Someday her life passing up the lives of my husband and I. As we pass on to the next world we will watch her from heaven, cheering her on, and her legacy. We will cheer from the vantage point of the perfect love and our home with God (not a bad seat to watch from). Then in a blink when my little girl's life is over we will all be together loving forever.

Doesn't sound like something to mourn does it?  I think I may have been making an idol of her childhood. Putting it on a pedestal as if those days are the best part of my life. Of course everyone says they are the best and are gone so soon. I capture photos so my children will always remember the story of thier childhoods. But if I stay mourning the little child and holding up those years as the "best of my life" can I fully value the young lady she is unfolding into? Also how can I move onto the new and exciting assignments in life ahead of ME?

She gave me the note above for Valentine's Day.  In those exhausting little girl days of wondering if I was doing it right or ruining her by doing it wrong I longed to know that she would grow into a relationship that she would like me have a friendship with me. And here I am my dreams coming true. So while I am thankful for the "little girl" I will not mourn her.  She is my daughter, she has grown into a young lady and will someday be a friend. There is no loss, only love.

-Allison

On the (sometimes lonley) road to Memory Masters

My kids are a bit...different. Of course we homeschool (read; not because we are in a religious cult or doing some social experiment on our kid. My two oldest just happen to be most able to learn at  home. More about that here.

Of course currently they could care less about sports, any kind of lessons, or clubs too. Sometimes this bothers me when I let fear creep in and tell me they are missing out. But they are geeky/creative and quirky, which of course they totally get from thier father. Sometimes being different means we are in our own world over here in Keys-land though and it does get lonely at times. 

Keys-land is not boring though. The kids are taking care of thier pets (currently a cat and four ducks), They love drawing, lego creating, writing songs, dancing, and of course the dreaded and highly controlled screen time; (they watch national geographic's animal jam, minecraft (we like skrafty!), lego shows, or youtube videos about these things) . And then thier are the other hybrids of those geeky creative interests (think making a video of your toys singing homeschool songs). Here is one they collaborated on.


They also love thier homeschooling class, Classical Conversations, on Thursdays. This class is a win win win for me because every Thursday they learn info in seven subjects from thier amazing tutors (Latin, English, Timeline, History, Science, Math and Geography). They also get to do a science and an art project every week (It is haaaard to teach music theory and do science projects at home!).You can see the video here!

Jonathan's artwork from Classical Conversation's Famous Artists class. He calls it "Jonathan Studies Flowers"

Also they have lunch with friends and then run around on the playground with them after class (sometimes for hours). Jonathan learned to ride a bike during this lunch time last fall.

A drawing of Asia by D. (influenced highly by her pet ducks). D and J draw creative versions of the geography to help them remember all the places. 

In keeping with our geeky/creative style, instead of  competing at sports and clubs this year D decided to try to earn the Memory Master title at Classical Conversations. To be a Memory Master she has to memorize ALL the over 500 pieces of memory work in Latin,Geography , Science, History, a history timeline, and Math. Here is a summary of each sentence or fact she has to learn to earn Memory Master;You can see her Geography reciting here.

We are in the home stretch and no matter if she makes it through the 4 two-hour reciting tests we are so proud of her. She and J have worked so hard! J can tell you the 3 laws of Thermodynamics, and Motion! Here he is reciting his favorite history sentence. But as they don't get to do these things in front of lots of smiling faces (just me and sometimes dad) I wanted to share these videos (like this one of D singing the Presidents, she cried when she first got it all the way through!)and hope you would help cheer us on. We are homeschooling our hearts out over hear in our little strange Keys world. Sometimes it gets a little lonely being quirky. Thanks!