Happy Birthday dear Gracie…& Momentous Monday

my sweet Gracie born 4/12/01

Happy Birthday to you!

Where does time go?  It just seems like yesterday that my Grace Eva was born.  She’s the third child of ours, and our third daughter.  What a joy she is to our family.  She’s funny, smart, and oh…so creative.  And she’s a spitfire.  I’ve got to tell you that I’ve discovered that if you have a child named Grace that you need to be blessed with an abundance of grace.  She’s so determined, focused, and yet is tender, loving and oh-so-sweet.

Grace doing an experiment

It’s a bit bittersweet having Gracie turn nine.  Sigh.  My girls are growing up.  Soon the cute braids and bows won’t be desired as much.  I miss those little moments of little girls sometimes.  Oh, don’t get me wrong…I love, love, love my four boys (who are all six and under)…but there is something tender and sweet about having a little girl in the house.  And, yes, I know nine isn’t THAT old, but it FEELS old.  It feels like those days of young childhood are leaving and she’ll be crossing into that threshold of her older sisters.  Those times where she’ll crave being the little girl and yet at the same time want to be older.  Where she’ll question if she should play with that toy…even though part of her really wants to…and the other thinks she’s too old. Will she still love pink?  Or her Littlest Pet Shops? The finite days of young childhood seem to be racing in all too fast.

Grace with her sisters (2007)

I love my Grace.  Sometimes I forget just how special a gift she is for our family.  Birthdays are great reminders.  They smack you in the face with the importance of those around you that you love.  As I sit here I’m thinking of all the times where I was too short-tempered with Grace, or when I didn’t really listen, or when I told her I’d play a game, or read a book, or did something…and didn’t.  Tonight as I was working on the yard I was showing my husband places where it was worn bare.  Of course it was right in front of the swingset…nestled in between that and the garden and the steps from the deck.  My husband replied:

We’re growing children…not grass.

Straight to the heart.  Truth.  Does it matter that our grass is matted there?  Absolutely not.  Does it matter that my children, our children enjoy the freedom to run and play in our yard.  Absolutely yes. So, once again, I need to refocus and refresh.

Grace’s 6th birthday

So often it’s easy to allow the people around us to be tainted with “build up.”  You know…where we keep a record of wrong.  When we look at them and we don’t allow them to move past the mistakes.  It’s like we see them with a record of short-comings, or mistakes, or wrong-doings.  That lens needs to come off!  Our Savior has washed me, and you, white as snow.  All of my sins are forgiven through Him.  And yet, here I walk, forgetting to wipe the slates clean of my own daughter…or sons. I need to learn from their errors, but give them the grace that they deserve.  Our Father bestowed on us grace that we could never ever ever deserve.  I need to learn from Him…the truth.

Grace’s art

Writing this makes me love her more.  And it fills me with such gratitude for her, and my six other children.  They are such blessings from the Lord.  It’s all to easy to get overwhelmed with the nitty-gritty ins and outs of daily life.  Whether the dishes are done, or the laundry folded, or the yard watered, or socks put-away, or things dusted…and then miss out on the beauty and joy right before us.  Grace is growing up.   Too fast.  I need to slow down and soak in this gift of time that I’ve been blessed to have with her.  That’s why I love birthdays.  They refocus my heart.  I see the truth and value of REAL importance again….the gift of time with these blessings from the Lord.  Use it wisely.

Happy 9th Birthday Grace Eva!

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I’m joining in on Momentous Monday today.  It’s a wonderful way to remember those daily things that make life beautiful.  Well, of course I had to think of something that Grace did or said last week since today is her birthday. 🙂

I decorate the house for my kids the night before their birthday so that when they wake up it’s quite festive.  I have had one friend laugh and tell me to just keep the decorations up since I’ve got birthdays all the time.  Well, anyways, last night before bed, Grace came to me and was trying to stay awake, you know getting water, asking a question, etc….so that she could peek at the decorations. After a bit I told her she needed to go to bed.  Then a couple minutes more I heard,

you know the streamers that you hang from the door?  Well, those are my favorites.  Just thought you’d want to know.

This morning?  A bunch of streamers hanging down from her door.  That’s memories.

Grace’s 7th birthday