Sunday, October 4, 2009

WE STILL LOVE JESUS!

It's 12:10am, and I'm still up. If you know me for 5 minutes, you know I go to bed early, and get up even earlier. But today being a rainy, dark, Sunday, I took a three hour nap. If that wasn't stupid enough, I had coffee this evening with my girlfriends at Tim Hortons. So everyone else in the house is asleep, and I am WIDE awake. I think I'll pay for this tomorrow.

It's been a very interesting couple of weeks to say the least. Blue Eyes and I have had many discussions, prayer, etc... about this girl, on the right. Yup, thats Sweet Baby Girl alright.
Almost didn't recognize her huh. Me neither. But this is her, growing up. You might at first glance, look at the dress shes wearing. The shoes on her feet...

But what this mom sees is her smile. (And I'm not talking about the beautifully straight teeth we paid $4,000 for). I'm talking about the "joy" in her smile. The happiness that is beaming from her face. I see her dads dimples, (that little bit of Gurney in her). I see my mom. I see the daughter who is once again, hugging on my neck in the middle of the day, giving me a kiss on the cheek and saying, "I love you mom." Words this mom rarely hears from her teenage girl. I see the daughter who plops herself on our bed at night and talks to me the way she use to before she started down the road that all teenagers go down. I see my Sweet Baby Girl reconnecting with the mom she was once so close too. I see my daughter. And it blesses my heart. I've said before that my peeps are growing up so fast this moms heart can't keep up. It's still so very true.


This was Katies very first dance. A Homecoming Dance. Something we never thought we would allow her to do. But, what God has been showing me in these last few weeks is that, we, as parents, can change our minds. And it can be a good thing. We can seek His wisdom, listen to those trusted friends and family who have gone before us, and change our minds.

And in changing our minds we can have confidence in God that all we believe in, stand for, know to be true, still is. That doesn't change because we've changed our minds on something.

God is who He says He is. Good friends and family are there when you need them. And our family still loves Jesus.

After all five thousand pictures were taken, the time had come to send her off. We were all standing on the front porch telling them to have a good time, when Katie heard her brothers truck coming down the street. He was just getting home from work. Mattie got out of his truck, walked up the stairs, and firmly shook the hand of the young man who was going to take his baby sister, his only baby sister, to her very first dance. He reached for Katies arm, as she turned to go down the stairs, hugged her tight, and whispered something only an older brother tells his little sister.

"I love you Katie." " I love you too Matt" And with her big princess smile, she was off.

Oh yeah, Sweet Baby Girl had a great time. And the young man that we allowed to take our precious daughter to the Homecoming... Well you can imagine the hoops the poor thing had to jump through in order to have Her on his arm walking into that dance. Let me tell you, that young man can jump!

This is one of my favorite pictures of her and her friends shoes the next morning. Right where they had left them when they got home, the night before. Proof that she hadn't dreamt of going to the dance with her Prince Charming. And yes, Patsey, you were right. She did look like a Princess!




Hugs from Maine

15 comments:

Margo said...

You truly are an awesome mom! I love that God showed you that it's okay to change your mind on something like this. Even if you hadn't changed your mind, that's okay, too!! My good friend Penny just told me that she heard Mark Driscoll (awesome preacher out of Seattle) say that many people have the same PRINCIPLES (he was preaching on Proverbs) that are clearly laid out in scripture, but there are often more than one method to follow those principles. That is SO good when it comes to parenting...like homeschooling versus not or dance versus not. I thought that was way good and such an awesome reminder of NOT to judge others!! By the way, Katie's teeth look amazing :) Did I already mention that you are an amazing mom??

Lisa said...

I LOVE YOU FRIEND!!! WISH YOU STILL LIVED ON FRANCES STREET! THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND ENCOURAGEMENT!

HUGS FROM MAINE

Mrs. E said...

Awwww..... how SWEET! :)
*sigh* Dancing is SO fun!
Were her feet tired after?!! :D

Love~ Jen

Lois Christensen said...

Very sweet. Must have been a hard decision to make. But it seems to me that you've been raising her right, helping her to know the way to live and the decisions she needs to make and how she's not alone when making those decisions. My daughter went to homecoming 2 years ago. I was very unsure of it as well. No date, just going with a bunch of her friends. I dropped her off at the school and an HOUR later, she called me to come pick her up. She did not feel comfortable and wanted to come home. I'm sure another dance will be in our future and we'll handle it from there!

Lisa said...

WELL, I CAN'T SAY KATIE CALLED TO COME HOME EARLY. SHE ACTUALLY HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH HER FRIENDS!

IM THINKING SHE'LL PROBABLY ASK TO GO AGAIN IN THE FUTURE! OR SHOULD I SAY PRINCE CHARMING

HUGS FROM MAINE

Kasey said...

beautiful post!
xo

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

I applaud you for seeking the wisdom of God, you are a good mama. The teen years are difficult at best but with God in your heart how can you go wrong?

My kids are grown but I can remember the words,"enough mom, we need to go" while snapping as many pics as possible.

As we say here in the Ozark hills and hollers, ya'll have a wonderfully blessed day!!!

Beth Dunn said...

Great pictures. Hope you got some sleep!!! xoxo

SC

Ashley said...

Your blog is such a blessing to me!
When I read this post I caught myself almost crying.
Thank you for listening to the Lord. Some may not agree with this decision, but you took time in prayer with it, and that makes all the difference! :)
Thanks for being such a blessing!
*You are going on my blog roll for sure! :)*

life in red shoes said...

It's so hard, isn't it?

Robynn's Ravings said...

As Christians, we can make new lists of "sins" that the Bible doesn't call sin. We have to tread carefully. Glad she had a good time and you are negotiating her maturation with much love and prayer. THAT IS what God calls us to as parents.

Joy said...

Is this the same daughter that is wearing the braces on her teeth a few pics below this post?

Lisa said...

SAME DAUGHTER, NO MORE BRACES!

HUGS FROM MAINE

Sharon @ Hiking Toward Home said...

Loved this post and the two previous. Just stumbled across your blog from Chatting at the Sky. Shocked at your blog title because I am very new to living OUTSIDE THE BOX!! AND I STILL LOVE JESUS!!! Wow. I am glad I am not the only one out there. I also love where you live, Maine is my favorite place to visit and if I could just go live anywhere it would be Maine. I also homeschool. I will be stopping by your blog more often! Thank you for posting about this subject.

Rumour has it said...

You do have a very pretty girl! And I hope that I´ll have this same amazing and loving openmindedness as you have when my daughters will be grown-ups! Sometimes I really look forward with fear to these moments, but they are still little girls: 6 and 8. And I too believe in God and His wisdom! :)
A big hug to you for your courage!