10 Years Ago

10 years ago, tomorrow, my life changed forever. It was then that I became a mom to my beautiful baby girl. Only now, she's not a baby. She prefers to be called a 'tween'. She's not 10 years old, she's a decade. (At least she wants me to say that.) Time really does fly. For some reason this birthday is hitting me hard. I am more than halfway through the time when Abby will be at home.

I remember the fresh, and in some ways, completely unanticipated feelings that accompanied my entry into motherhood. I never knew I could love someone so completely. I had a new understanding of how my mom stepped up, when my birth mother did not. That was bittersweet. And last, but certainly not least, I felt a different kind of relationship with God brewing. I didn't know at the time, but he would use motherhood as a way to draw me back to him and allow him to love me in a way I had stopped him from doing before.

Abby has grown into a girl that loves Jesus. Her favorite Bible story is Esther. We are enjoying the fact that tomorrow at sundown the Jewish people will begin their celebration of Purim. The entire narrative of Esther will be read and she will be remembered as a girl used of God "for such a time as this". My prayer for Abby is that she will be an Esther in her generation.

Happy Birthday Abby! Your momma loves you very much!

A Momma on a Mission and Other Stories

Hey Company Girls! I love spending time reading your blogs. It's been a busy couple of weeks around our house. This post may ramble a little bit, but stick with me, pretty please. I became a momma on a mission after my son saved his commissions for 5 months to purchase a certain LEGO set. Matt finally reached his saving goal on Sunday evening only to learn that the set he had been working so hard to get was discontinued. The very set that his parents had seen several times in stores over the holidays and could have purchased. We didn't though, because we wanted Matt to keep up with his goal and learn some patience along the way. After some frantic Internet searching and a lot of phone calls, I found the set. Thank you, Jesus! Matt had that set built in no time; and said he was really glad that he saved his money for it. I used to be bothered by how quickly he could build a set. I worried that he really wasn't enjoying it. Then I thought about how when I get a new book and I can hardly put it down. LEGO sets for him are like books for me.

Camera class was absolutely fabulous! I learned so much. First, I have to get all the pictures off my computer and put them on a flash drive. I would be so upset if something happened to our computer and I lost all those photos. Second, and I loved this thought, the instructor said that when you have a digital camera it doesn't cost anything to actually take a picture, so just take a bunch. I took comfort in knowing I wasn't the only one who goes a little crazy with picture-taking at a sporting event, and then ends up deleting. The perfect shot is rarely planned so just keep trying. There will a class offered soon on sports photography which I definitely plan on attending. This soccer mom needs some tips. There was so much in the class that I could probably fill an entire blog post on that alone, but maybe another time.

Matt's room is finally painted. After going back and forth on the color, we agreed on Desert Fortress by Valspar. It's a light tan color. His room has white trim and navy blue curtains are on the way.