32 family members came to celebrate Evies 7th birthday this afternoon. We do our best to treasure these moments, and how many surround this girl with love.
Two days later (on her actual birth-day), we went to visit Oma, who has been in in hospital for the last few days. Oma treated us like only Oma does- prepared with balloons, decorations, cookies, and ice cream.
Well, I didn’t see this one coming. Yesterday, Aunt Colleen invited us to a Medieval Village, which was actually in the nearby town of Carnation, as they celebrated the holiday of Michelmasse. How could we say no?
What we found was pretty spectacular. You know those places on the East Coast that are so into the Civil War that they dress up as a character/soldier, and re-create entire battles and days in character, and you can ask them anything you want and they’ll answer it authentically? Well, this is the same thing, except it’s in 14th-century small town of Somerset, England. And it’s a delight to visit, and for the kiddos to explore.
I asked Evie why she picked the book she picked to read.
She said
Last night, I was tired and ready to go to bed around 10.30 (my normal time). I get to my room and realize the desk light is on. Who is working at my desk?
It’s my 9 year old daughter, who got out of bed and is writing away at her 12-page autobiography (I believe this is originally a school assignment).
Words. Stories. Narrative about her own life. And can’t sleep. That’s my daughter. 🙂
Today, Evie spent an hour making a present for Cyn & me. She said the drawing is her family, and she said she drew it because she’s proud to be a part of this family.
It’s little- the drawing took her one hour on one night. She does drawings all the time, and she just happened to make a drawing of us, tonight.
But I just have the feeling that this is the type of little thing that will seem very Big, in hindsight.
We are in a really cool season with the girls, where they are really starting to understand theological concepts. For the last few weeks, I’ve been reading Jesus’ parables to them for bed-time stories. And, here’s the thing: the girls are really getting them! Tonight, the parable was about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (we read the passage from Luke 18). They really grab on to the key concepts, come up with amazing insights (some of which I hadn’t thought of, before), and ask powerful questions.
This is especially true for Abigail, who is obviously farther along then Evie in terms of comprehension. It’s a profound joy to hear her talk about what she learns from these stories, and the number of applications she sees in her own life. As is often the case, if I just listen really hard, I will learn a lot. But if I only listen with the intention of responding and giving her the “right answer”, I will miss out on her beautiful insights.
But the real story is with Evie. Sometimes, I am not sure how much she actually understands of the parables/ stories we are reading. But tonight, she was quite insightful. The phrase she kept repeating (and came up with, wholly to herself) was, “what if God was your only treasure, and nothing else?” First off, I think this question gets at the heart of the story really well. But second, I’m just impressed that she comes up with this original phrase on her own.
There’s a phrase that my parent-friends throw around a lot, these days: “the days are long, but the years are short”. This makes so much sense to me. From day to day, things are chaotic and sometimes there is friction. But when I hear the girls able to elucidate these concepts so well, I think that these are like spiritual seeds that are being sown in their heart, that will, over time, root their hearts in God.
