Sailing Camp-2010 Edition-Part 1

Muffin completed her second stint of sailing camp at Buckeye Lake this week and had great fun again this year. Here she is (above, center) with her second cousin, Olivia (left) and another camp sailor. They are sailing in a Flying Junior (FJ) which has two sails and races with a skipper and one crew member. As a teenager, I raced as both a crew member of an FJ and skippering a Laser (a much smaller boat-one sail and one person sailing it) on Lake Erie during Jr. Bay Week. I'll just say for the record that I wasn't very good. My most memorable race was at Lake Erie when I was about 13 and sailing a Laser. The wind was gusting to 25 knots and I had very little control over the boat. I constantly capsized and turtled (capsize-the boat is on its side with the mast parallel to the water. Turtle-the boat is upside-down with the top of the mast pointing to the bottom of the lake and the bottom of the boat pointing to the sky so that it looks like a turtle's shell) the boat despite my best efforts. If you want to read about a really awesome teenaged sailor who, at 16, attempted to sail around the world by herself but recently had to give up that quest, read here: http://soloround.blogspot.com/

The next picture shows the boat heeling a little. Muffin is on the leeward side so you can't see her. There was a nice little bit of wind this day and the boat continued to heel...

And then it capsized. Again, Muffin was on the leeward side of the boat so you can't see her. Olivia and Austin (the skipper) are trying to right the boat by pulling down on the centerboard. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get up there when you are small and are wearing a bulky life jacket.
So John, the instructor, motored over and helped them right the boat. Muffin was helped in the boat and here she is helping her other two sailors back in. The small boats capsize relatively easily and are made to be easily righted. The only scary things about capsizing a boat like this are:
1-Losing any valuables that sink-don't take anything on the boat that can't get wet or doesn't float.
2-Getting back into the boat-this can be challenging for little people but is not impossible and can be learned (and you develop great upper body strength)
3- Getting caught under the sail while it is capsized. This happens and while not really dangerous, you feel like you might suffocate. Life jackets actually exacerbate the problem because it is harder to got under water and swim out from under the sail. You may even feel like you are tangled up in some of the lines that are attached to the sails making you feel trapped. This happened to Muffin in this incident and she was a little shaken up.
Instructor John sailed with them for a while and allowed Doodle to go with him too!

Tell me again why honesty is so great?

**********************
I was sitting in church and was feeling a little self conscious. I leaned over to my darling nine year old daughter and whispered, "Does my sweater smell funny?" She dutifully took a whiff, looked up at me and whispered back, "No. But your breath does."
***********************
It was a rare moment indeed. I found myself alone in the bathroom. And miraculously - there was sudden rush to join me. No one was maimed and bleeding profusely, no one had feelings that were hurt by a sister, no one felt obliged to access the facilities that I was inhabiting (even though we have two other equally lovely facilities in our home). Then, as soon as I had realized the solitude one is entitled to at such times, it was broken. Mator entered the room with one hand full of Polly Pockets and the other full of accessories. She sat down on the floor (because after all, where else would Polly want to hang out?). Then the little angel stands right back up, looks at me accusingly and asks, "Do you want some privacy?". Indeed!

Raiding the Dress up Box

I kind of resent the fact that Halloween is celebrated on the last day of the month. Somehow, that makes my posting in November about it seem late. But the reality is, it was only 12 days ago. And that's not too bad for me!

So here they are ready to go trick or treating.There's muffin the clown.... Mator is Cinderella...
and Doodle is.... any guesses? Give up? A roller skater. Really. I am not making this up. I tried to gently persuade her to possibly add something to her costume in the minutes before we headed out the door. And her response? "I am. I am wearing roller skates." There is a connection to last year's Halloween (click here to read that).

So what is a mom to do? I was a little afraid of having "that kid" who wouldn't wear a costume but wanted candy. But in her mind, she was totally incognito. Here is how she dressed up for the kindergarten party at her school. They don't celebrate Halloween but they do celebrate with a harvest party. All the kids are allowed to dress up as scarecrows or farmers. Now this is cute...

First Day-Kindergarten and Third Grade

This year's first day of school, I had two lovely ladies ready and eager to go (well one was eager the other was tolerant). I made the brilliant decision to put an alarm clock in the girls' room and that has been wonderful. It goes off at 6:50 and so far, they have gotten themselves up and at 'em.

Muffin's teacher seems to be so kind and caring. The fact that she also has an interest in photography make it extra nice! Muffin is in the co-op this year which means that she goes in and does regular third grade in the morning (Bible, math, english and spelling) and then I pick her up either before lunch or after lunch / recess (our choice) and we come home and homeschool for science, social studies and reading. Muffin, although doing very well in school, has always had a desire to homeschool. Last year the school started offering the co-op option so we thought this would be a good way to try it out. We are on day six today and so far it has been pretty great. Well, the first two days we didn't do anything at home because Doodle had only half days. This week has been pretty awesome for me and good for Muffin too.

Here she is with two of her best friends, Caitlin and Olivia who are also doing the co-op.And this is her wonderul teacher, Mrs. Thompson.

Doodle was very excited and I think a little nervous although there were no tears (at least on her end!) on the first day or subsequent days. She was very proud of the fact that she went across the monkey bars on her very first day! Her teacher is Mrs. Bennett and is well known for being super-sweet and very musical. What a great match for Doodle! She also happened to be Ben and Will's(my nephews) teacher so that makes her cool too!

Here are Doodle and Mrs. Bennett just before mommy started bawling and had to leave the building Doodle embarked on her first year of elementary school.
This shot is actually from the second day of school. Since both girls were done by lunch time, we had the whole afternoon and spent a few hours swimming at the pond. Then we came home, had showers and ate dinner. Doodle had just finished her dessert when she passed out while sitting in the barstool at the table! They were watching TV and Andy said he watched her just crash. Now that's a good day!

Typical Summer Day

Here is a typical shot around our house. Muffin and Doodle are doing nails in the bathroom. They have really gotten along well this summer, very few fights or tears between them. That makes the thought of sending them back to school soon even harder. Doodle will be in kindergarten and Muffin in third grade. Doodle is ready to go today. Muffin constantly asks to be home-schooled. We are actually considering a form of that for her next year. FCA calls it a co-op and for elementary students it basically means that she is either there for the AM or PM. Then is home schooled on the missed subjects. The seems like an ideal scenario for her since it requires her to do some large group adapting but also maximize her strengths by moving at her own pace. We’ve already registered Doodle for Kindergarten full time and I feel sure that it is the right decision for her. We’ll have to decide soon for Muffin. Until then, I plan to enjoy the rest of our days of summer!

Sailing Camp - Buckeye Lake Yacht Club

I'm about to go on a blogging spree. I wrote a few entries over vacation and will schedule their posting over the next few days so check back often! Here's a quick one about Muffin...
Muffin has had a very busy summer. In addition to swim team and softball, she also had a week of sailing camp at Buckeye Lake. It was an ideal situation for her to learn the basics of sailing and gain some confidence on the water with a bunch of friends. In addition to her cousin Annabelle, my cousin’s two kids (Ian and Olivia) came in for the week. Also, Annabelle’s friends (Michael, Mattie, Katie and Susannah) who are Muffin’s friends too made it lots of fun for her.

I grew up at Buckeye Lake (well, not literally but I spent A LOT of time there) and had many years of sailing camp-some fun, some not. It is a very long day (9-4) and being an introvert, it was exhausting for me. Plus I usually didn’t know anyone very well and it always seemed like everyone else knew each other. Really, all kinds of camps were a pain for me. I was always anxious to get back home. So I was really hopeful that things would work out for Muffin because she is a lot like me. The weather was great except for one day and having so many friends there seemed to make the difference because on Thursday when I told her, “Don’t worry, we still have one more day!” She replied, “What?!! It is only ONE week?”

Here she is getting an Opti ready to sail. She is putting in the centerboard.

Here she is sailing with one of the instructors. It was a very windy day so she ended up being one of only a few to take the tiller. Most of the other kids just went out with their instructor at the tiller.

Here she is with my cousin's daughter, Olivia. She even stayed at our house for a few nights during the week and the girls had a ball together.

Some days, while Muffin was out on the lake, the rest of us would hang out at the Yacht Club pool. Here is Mator making herself at home with someone's sun glasses!

Muffin is Baptized

Way back in June, Muffin was baptized at our church. At our church, baptism is an outward symbol of faithfulness (Matthew 28:19- "Go and make disciples...baptizing them..") and a testimony to others about your faith. Muffin has asked for about a year and a half to do this but her new confession of faith made it the right time.

Most of Andy's and my family were able to join us for part or all of the service and the celebratory lunch at Pizza Cottage. We are so blessed that Muffin felt a pull to do this and our family was able to join us. Andy's mom had given us some adorable fabric and Muffin really wanted to be able to wear them on the day of the baptism so I was able to make her a top and the other two dresses. Aren't they cute? So easy too!

Disciplines of A Godly Woman- Part I

My last blog entry (good gracious, a month ago!!!) told about how my oldest daughter, 8 year old Muffin, made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior. In that decision are a whole lot of details that can be overwhelming to a new believer. Without discipleship, a new believer can not mature or develop in the fullness of Christ. As her mom, it's my responsibility (along with her dad) to make sure that she understands that this commitment is only the beginning of something, not the end. I also wanted her to know that this decision is huge, one that will affect the direction of the rest of her life. With those things in mind, I planned an overnight for us to talk about the "Disciplines of a Godly Woman".

Step 1 - Plan a place to go. I looked online for a cheap local hotel. My girl is in heaven if she can swim in a pool so that's what we were going to do. The cheapest nights are weeknights so that meant (GULP!) missing a day of school. As a former teacher, this is a BIG deal for me. Here's my philosophy: I really don't like to send my child mixed messages. I want them to know that if I say something, they can bank on it. I try really hard not to make promises I can't keep (or threats!). So, I have a hard time sending a message that school is not important when it is inconvenient or I need something but it is important every other day. Yes, we do miss school, but it is a BIG STINKING DEAL when we do. I digress...

Step 2- Check with teacher to see if there is anything happening that can't be made up or done in advance on the day we are going to miss. Another blessing of attending a Christian school: I just flat out told the teacher and the attendance officer what we were doing and both were very supportive.

Step 3 - What are the disciplines of a Godly Woman? I narrowed it down to 5: Bible Study, Tithes & Offerings, Prayer, Worship & Fellowship. I want to make sure that she understands each one and knows how to practice them. I bought a 3 ring binder that is about 9"x6" so that our sermon notes (that come on a half sheet of paper) can be stored in it. Then with Andy's help, we developed a little lesson for each subject and thought of a physical reminder for each one and put them in the book. Then I gave her an invitation that looked like this:



So, here is how it went down...
Thursday after school, Andy and Muffin had dentist appointments so I met them at the dentist at 4:15 and we traded kids. Muffin and I had appointments to get our nails painted at 5:00 so we stalled until 4:50. When we got there, the lady told us that she was behind some so we walked down to the Christian book store to kill some more time.

Let me just say upfront that I do not make a very good girl. I have no real decorating talents (just look at the interior of my house). When I am a hostess, I love to focus on the food and activity, I have no desire nor any giftings in centerpieces, name cards, invitations, etc. And the last time I had my fingernails professionally done was for my wedding (12 years ago!). But this was the best $5 (each) I think I ever spent. I got a french manicure, Muffin got hers painted and airbrushed with stars, and we got to witness to the lady who did our nails. This was one of the neatest things that happened so I'll wrap up this post with the story...

A lady in the salon was getting her hair done as we were waiting to get our nails done and getting them done. At one point, the nail tech asked what why we were on our little outing. Muffin told her, "I got saved". When the tech didn't say anything, I said, "Why don't you tell her what that means?" And she did. The tech still didn't say anything but the woman getting her hair done heard her and stopped over to us and said, "Did you get saved honey? That is so wonderful. I knew there was something different about the two of you when you walked in here but I didn't know what it was. Now I know!" Oh thank you Lord for a confirmation of one of my favorite verses right now,

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

I just love that God can make His word so real for us. As I struggled to adequately prepare the lessons we were about to embark on, He taught us one just as important. Thanks be to God!

Prayers are answered

        Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! 
 Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia! 
 Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia! 
 Where's thy victory, oh grave? Alleluia!

On Easter Sunday, my oldest daughter made a public confession of her desire to serve the risen Savior for the rest of her life. I have had a hard time writing about this as it seemed to somehow diminish the sanctity of this event by posting it on the blog, but then that seemed hypocritical considering Christ is the center of my life and to deny access to that area on my blog would be denying who I am. So here is the story...

About a year and a half ago, Muffin said that she wanted to be baptized. This brought up a conversation about why one gets baptized and she stated that she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart. We talked to her some more but since she is our oldest, we had a really hard time discerning her heart. Here is the sad thing, if ANY other child in the world would come up to me and say, "I want to ask Jesus into my heart" I would immediately open up a Bible, ask them some questions and pray with them. Why is it so much harder with my own children? I question her motives, consider the depth of her understanding and wonder if she knows enough to make this commitment.

So Andy took her to talk to our Pastor. He gave her a tract for kids (not the particular one in this link but you get the idea)
He told her to read it and discuss it with us when she was ready. She did read it. That night. And when we found it some time later, we found the notes she had carefully written in the margins. Things like, "Wow!" when reading about the sacrifice of Christ. And "Yeh!" when reading about his resurrection. Then she signed it and dated it that she had prayed the sinner's prayer. She did not talk about it with us for some time. I can't explain or defend our lack of action on this. Certainly the Holy Spirit was pressing me to act but I could not figure out how.

About two months ago, Muffin began attending the worship service with us instead of the children's service. We had been encouraging her to attend one service a month in first grade, two in second and now she wanted to go with us almost every week. These verses were an encouragement to me:

"He called a little child and had him stand among them.

And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." Matthew 18:2-5

So I began to pray during our Pastor's invitations each week that God would pull her to Him during an invitation. This was kind of my "Gideon's fleece" (Judges 6:36-40). I never talked to Muffin about coming forward during an invitation, I waited to see if the King of Kings might call her to Him in that way. This kind of public display is not in Muffin's nature. She is an introvert. So on Easter Sunday, when she tugged on my shirt and said during the invitation, "I want to ask Jesus into my heart" I knew that the God who knows my fears and doubts was making Himself real to her. Andy took her forward where she talked to our Pastor. He reminded her that a child's first commandment was to obey her parents and encouraged us to continue the dialogue with her.

We went straight to Andy's parent's house for Easter dinner and Muffin stayed in the car to talk to Andy. He made sure that she understood what was happening:
1. Did she admit that she, like all of us, was a sinner?
2. Did she recognize that God is Holy and our sin separates us from Him?
3. Did she know that Jesus Christ's (a sinless man and God at one time) death on the cross was a sacrifice without which we could not stand before a Holy God?
4. Did she want to accept the gift of salvation and spend the rest of her life in service to Him?

Praise God, the answer was yes. They prayed together and came inside to share the good news with our family. She was so excited and I think was unprepared for the overwhelming excitement of each person she told. It was wonderful to see and now that I've written it, it all seems so simple-why did it take this long?

When I am Weak He is Strong

Sometimes I don't know what to do.
There. I said it. The truth is out. Those of you who thought I was a perfect mom who knows everything and even teaches a parenting sunday school class- now you know the truth. And the rest of you (well, really I'm pretty sure no one falls into the other category so this means you) well now you've heard me admit it.

Overall today went very well. But the last few hours degenerated into sheer misery for all in my home. It started when I went to pick up Muffin and Doodle who had had the rare privilege of spending a play date with their friends who are sisters and the same age. They had an awesome time but as is usually the case, the leaving was difficult. This is not a new phenomenon and I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't figured this one out yet but here is the basic premise:

One or more young children do not want the fun of a play date to end. Silliness (like hiding or running away) ensues under the watchful eye of the host family. I respond good naturedly and then my tone gets more serious and involves significant eye contact - "Get your shoes on and meet me at the door". About the time we get into the vehicle, the dam bursts and fights break out among my previously cheerful children- who pushed whom into the car, who touched the other's seat, who dared to exhale just as a sister was inhaling, etc., etc.

My voice gets more serious and my statements become more command-like, "Do NOT talk like that to anyone." "If you touch your sister again, you will lose a bedtime story."

Next in the pattern, "Why are you so MEAN mommy?" Who me? The one who arranged this playdate with the other parents, the bus barn and your school? Who me? The one who drove 30 minutes each way to pick you up? Who me? The one who let you play an extra half hour while I visited with the lovely host family? Who me? The one who picked up all the stuff you dropped in the driveway because you were crying too hard to see?

And here is my open and honest question - What do you do to teach your children to be thankful for the fun they have had instead of bitter and angry that it has to end? I am at a loss.

Thankfully, I am not LOST. I am constantly reminded that my God gave me these children for a reason and that He is teaching me about His character through all of these trials. Just tonight, after I had spent about 1.5 hours trying to resolve a computer issue, I rewarded myself by checking in on some of my favorite bloggers. Now this one is always one of the first I check each day. For some reason, I put her off earlier today but tonight I took a few minutes to read her entry for today. I had to cry. I knew God had her write that for me (by the way, she has a very funny introduction but I'm talking about the meatier part after that). Even in my weakness as a parent, He is strong. Anything I can do right is because He is perfect. Thank you Lord (and Melissa) for that reminder!

All Bundled Up

Debi, over at "Who says 8 is Enough" has a fun challenge for Sundays called Baby Picture Sundays and this week's theme is "Bundled Up". I really was excited about this theme because well, basically I can use it to irritate my spouse. See we get some cold weather around these parts and a snowsuit for babies is a must. Also, I am a cheapskate and rely on the kindness of family members to give us lots of wonderful hand-me-downs. Every once in a while there is something that, how should I say this, isn't quite my taste. But the practical side of me usually wins out. Especially when it comes to a snowsuit that will be worn for a total of less than 12 hours before you pass it on to someone else. So while this snowsuit is perfectly wonderful at keeping my children warm, Andy has resisted its use for every one of my children claiming it is more of a punishment than life enhancing device. Too bad! All three have worn it and not one of them complained-here is Muffin in 2002:
Here is Doodle is December of 2007 with one of my favorite hats on her head:
And here is Mator (from last week) in another adorable snowsuit that unfortunately makes her look like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man but again, she's warm!
And this is one of my favorite winter pictures ever-Mator was about 7 months old and we had an impromptu winter party at our pond with sledding and skating. Here she is in the backpack watching everyone else:

So there they all are - All bundled up!

Nutcracker Production

Two of my little dancers performed in a local production of the Nutcracker. Muffin and Doodle did great and it was so fun to watch. On Friday, we brought two of Grace's friends with us to watch it and they were so well behaved. I have to admit that I was a little jealous though. When Muffin first came onto the stage I watched her eyes scanning the audience. When she finally got glimpse of the person she was looking for her eyes lit up and her smile widened. Only, that person wasn't me! It was her friend Caitlin and I felt that I had somehow been replaced.








Here is Muffin in one of her outfits - I think it is the Sugarplum fairy outfit.


This is Doodle in her mouse costume. She had the biggest smile of her life when she came out on stage. She was also the child "directing" everyone about when they needed to move and to where. She was adorable!








Here is Muffin in her snow fairy costume. She had one other for her gymnastics dance but I took that with another camera. The funny thing was that both girls said that they didn't want to do it again next year but they would like to watch! I was really surprised because they looked like they were having a lot of fun and both of them have friends that dance with them. Well, we'll see what they say in a week or two!

Lion King

In addition to the excitement of the first day of school, we had the excitement of going to see a production of the Lion King at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus. We went out to dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse (great idea Jason and Jill!) and the kids loved it! Mator spent the night at Jim and Sue's so it was just the four of us. Muffin suggested they wear their fancy Christmas dresses from last year so they looked so cute! I couldn't believe when we got there and saw how crowded it was, I was afraid we would be late but they seated us right away in the trolley car! Doodle asked me five times if it was going to start moving!

The girls were so well behaved and very thankful for the opportunity to have such a great night. Thanks to Sandy and Frank and Karen and Rod for the great deal on the seats! We were in the front row of the balcony (although for some reason it is called the Loge) and the seats were fantastic. They were so into the show from the first moment that it was just as entertaining to watch them. The girls were also suitably impressed with the beautiful theatre and being in the city which made the experience even more fun.

SPOILER ALERT: The second act begins with cast members running into the audience, singing a song, with bird puppets that soar all around the theatre. It is quite breathtaking and Muffin had the best comment when the song was over, "Why did that have to end?"

Andy bought a King Size box of M&Ms and one of Junior Mints at the intermission to sugar them up. A King Size box has about twice the volume of a regular size bag, hence the name "King Size". But Muffin saw the box, pulled out a Junior Mint and gasped, "These are huge!" To her, the "King" designation must mean the candy was big!

They both had so much fun with the songs they knew and even the ones they didn't. The show was over at about 10:45 so they were whipped to say the least. We didn't even get home until 11:45 so I relented and let Muffin sleep in and took her to school late. She is still talking about what a great show it was!

Total Count: $34.05

In early August, our church had a "Mission Week" for kids that had school-agers go out and serve others for a few days. Among other things, Muffin and I had a chance to sort food at a local food pantry, make cards for shut ins, help clean our church and volunteer at the local Humane Society to walk dogs and pet cats. Muffin LOVED this last one. She adores cats and kittens and wanted to buy them some new toys.
Flash back to a week before the mission week. Muffin had mentioned that she'd like to have a lemonade stand to make some money. When I asked her what she would do with the money she made she said, "Buy more lemonade". What an entrepreneur! I convinced her that eventually she would have to do something other than invest in the business and encouraged her to think about it.
So after visiting the Humane Society we talked about how they pay for the food, medicine (and toys) for the animals and she decided she wanted to donate the money to them. Doodle asked to help too so she and I made cookies to sell with the lemonade. When my mom and s-i-laws said they were having a garage sale, we even had a place to do it. Doodle, Mator and I spent about 3 hours there on Friday and Muffin, Doodle and I spent about four hours on Saturday to make a grand total of $34.05 (Where did that nickel come from????) Thanks to everyone who helped: watching Mator, allowing us to park our stand at the garage sale and having hungry and thirsty kids! We'll take the cash in to the Humane Society when both Muffin and Doodle can go. Here are a few pictures from Muffin's visit to the H.S. and the lemonade stand too.

First Day of Second Grade

Well, the day that I've avoided thinking about since the last day of first grade arrived today. Bright and early. When my alarm went off at 6:30 (I slept in for the first day) I actually thought-"Why aren't I homeschooling?". But I dragged everyone else out of bed at 7:00 and it wasn't too horrible. Andy even met us at the school as a surprise to Muffin. I wasn't sure how a big 7 1/2 year old would handle getting her picture taken at the school and with the teacher and at her desk but she was a champ. I daresay she even enjoyed it. Here is a picture I snapped on the front porch. Notice little sister in the back window desperately wanting to join us. The was such a visual metaphor for the was it was for both sisters that I thought it was perfect.
After dropping Grace off, Emma, Katy and I got in the van and as she buckled her seatbelt, the reality of her (Emma) situation must have hit her like a ton of bricks. She asked, "Who am I going to play with?" as if she had never considered this aspect of Grace going back to school. Poor thing. If I were a really great mom I would have prepared for this situation by setting up a play date for today. As it was, I set one up for tomorrow and we went to the grocery store instead.
At one point in the store I was standing about ten feet away from the cart selecting ice cream when I hear Emma scream and yell, "Stop it". I don't even turn around. I'm perfectly aware that Katy just injured her in some way but come on-I've got important decisions to make- mint chocolate chip or cookie dough? Two seconds later, "OW!! Emma hit me." OK, fine-mint chocolate chip AND cookie dough. The lady coming down the aisle towards us is chuckling and I am in a good enough mood to joke with her, "Sure, YOU think it's funny because it's not YOUR kids." She smiled and said it reminded of her of her childhood with her brother.
I got to pick Muffin up from school today and she was all abuzz (for her). We went to the bookstore to get her a Bible for school and she was so chatty about school. It turns out they had 3 recesses instead of two and she told me exactly how long each one lasted, who she played with (Caitlin, Heather and Renee) and which cousins she saw (both Jared and Will). She told me the details about lunch and the accumulation of stars by the class to earn a party. I was really proud of her because I had asked her to try and include the new girl (Heather) when they played and she had actually done it! I know that isn't easy for her either. She was a regular chatterbox compared to normal so I was loving it.
We have really had a good month of talking and getting along and I'm thankful for that development. I pray that it will continue even as school starts and she gets more tired and we see less of each other.