Ella has been beyond naps since she was four, but she still has an hour and a half of "rest time" in her room where she plays quietly with toys and books and things while Simon sleeps and I get some quiet time. After rest time is over, Ella is supposed to make sure her room is picked up before we move on to the next thing. Today, it was that time of day and we had moved downstairs to get a snack when I remembered I hadn't checked with her to make sure she'd picked up. So I asked, "Ella, did you straighten up your room after rest time?" to which she replied, "Hmm...Yeah....but I'll go check to make sure." As she ascended the stairs, I heard her say to herself: "I can't remember... Sometimes I have short term memory loss."
Monday, August 24, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
childlike faith
Bryan and I have been so encouraged and challenged lately by Ella's amazing faith in God and His goodness, faithfulness, and power. When she has aches or pains, she asks for prayer without reservation or fear that God may not show up to help. In particular, she had a small wart on her temple that she was somewhat embarrassed about and didn't like anyone to see. One night, as I was putting her to bed, she asked if I would pray for her that God would make the wart go away. So I did. We covered it with a band aid and as I tucked her in, she said, "We'll have to check on it in the morning to see if God made it disappear!" Sure enough, the next morning, we removed the band aid, and the darn thing fell right off! She was so thrilled! And I was amazed!
Even when she doesn't receive healing right away, her faith isn't dampened. She has a small cut near the top of her ear that has caused her some pain. I have prayed with her about it a handful of times. One day in particular, she approached me with lip quivering and eyes full of tears because the sore hurt and said, "Mommy, will you pray for me?" I am so proud of her that she doesn't stop believing, even though God didn't take the pain away the first, second or even third time we prayed.
At the dinner table a few nights ago, Ella looked up at me with a huge grin on her face and with a bit of a shy demeanor, and said, "Mommy...I'm a Christian." I was taken aback at first, not expecting her to even know the word so I asked her, "Ella, what does that word mean?" She replied, "It means I love Jesus." And I know she does.
What we find most challenging and inspiring about her faith is how pure it is. It's unhindered by disappointment or questions about whether God really is good. There is no question in her mind that He will take care of things and that He will act out of love toward her. I have found it personally convicting that when Bryan or I will complain of some ailment or weariness, we will search high and low for the ibuprofen or complain to one another, and she will offer to pray for us. We'll both look at each other perplexed, like, "Why didn't we think of that?!" It just proves to me that, even though I believe God to be good, accessible and willing to help, I still look to myself for the answer by default. I am blessed by her every day and love that I can learn so much from her, even as I try to impart as much wisdom as I can to her. It brings to life so many of Jesus' references to little children, how precious they are, how he treasures them and how we are to be more like a child as we relate to our heavenly Father.
Matthew 19:13–14 13Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Even when she doesn't receive healing right away, her faith isn't dampened. She has a small cut near the top of her ear that has caused her some pain. I have prayed with her about it a handful of times. One day in particular, she approached me with lip quivering and eyes full of tears because the sore hurt and said, "Mommy, will you pray for me?" I am so proud of her that she doesn't stop believing, even though God didn't take the pain away the first, second or even third time we prayed.
At the dinner table a few nights ago, Ella looked up at me with a huge grin on her face and with a bit of a shy demeanor, and said, "Mommy...I'm a Christian." I was taken aback at first, not expecting her to even know the word so I asked her, "Ella, what does that word mean?" She replied, "It means I love Jesus." And I know she does.
What we find most challenging and inspiring about her faith is how pure it is. It's unhindered by disappointment or questions about whether God really is good. There is no question in her mind that He will take care of things and that He will act out of love toward her. I have found it personally convicting that when Bryan or I will complain of some ailment or weariness, we will search high and low for the ibuprofen or complain to one another, and she will offer to pray for us. We'll both look at each other perplexed, like, "Why didn't we think of that?!" It just proves to me that, even though I believe God to be good, accessible and willing to help, I still look to myself for the answer by default. I am blessed by her every day and love that I can learn so much from her, even as I try to impart as much wisdom as I can to her. It brings to life so many of Jesus' references to little children, how precious they are, how he treasures them and how we are to be more like a child as we relate to our heavenly Father.
Matthew 19:13–14 13Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Sunday, August 2, 2009
school dilemma solved!
Some of you faithful readers (whoever you are) may remember my distress in an earlier post about making the right decision for Ella's upcoming start of preschool. Thanks to a friend who happened to read the blog, I was made aware of a lovely preschool less than ten minutes from our house that offers a schedule much more digestible to our current lifestyle. It's called Union Preschool and it has been up and running for nearly 40 years by a Methodist Church of the same name. We took the kids with us on a tour and they both went absolutely nuts with wonder and imagination! Every room was colorful, full of life, and even though it is an older facility, it has a charm and warmth that I haven't seen in other schools we've visited. The tuition is bearable, at least for this year, so we have made the commitment folks! Ella starts school on September 9 and will be going 4 half days a week! Such a load off my mind and a relief to see her so excited about the school! As for next year, we will try again to get her into Kennard for kindergarten.
princess tea
Even though we've not quite made it to August 12th, we had Ella's fifth birthday celebration over the weekend. We'll be traveling the week of her birthday so we decided to have a party early this year. We kept it small and quiet this time around but it was oh so much fun for mommies and daughters both! We had a "Royal Tea Party" and invited three of Ella's little friends (including her cousin Lauren.) Each girl arrived in her finest princess gown and we presented them with their own strands of sparkly beads, a big princess ring and a fairy wand. We had our beautiful friend Amie who arrived in her own princess dress act as our guest princess and she helped the mommies to paint little princess nails, curl hair and add sparkle to their sweet faces. Everyone looked so pretty! Then we set out a spread of tasty princess treats and they had their tea party, complete with princess tea (pink lemonade.) Such a sweet time! The moms got to enjoy some time together over munchies and cake. A big highlight was when our grown up princess read them princess stories before we had cake and ice cream. They were enraptured! Better than Disney World (or a close second!)Ella started out the morning by opening her special gift, just for the occasion. It was a white princess dress with silver sequins and a white velvety bodice complete with crown, earrings, necklace, wand and shoes. She carried herself with such grace...I could tell she was feeling so special! It was just the right amount of spoiling! I think her best birthday yet.
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