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
There are times when I wish we (my fam and I), could just go back in time. I miss those years of them all being home, playing together, home schooling together. Dancing around the house to silly music, reading, just being together...
I'm certainly not complaining. I am blessed that our peeps are still home a lot, (except Ben being in Germany), I just miss those days, A LOT!!!
She is creative, artistic, kind hearted... She has a amazing insight with people and reads them with accuracy. She is reasonable and doesn't like girlie drama but would rather have fun with her friends. 
