Capturing Little-ness

The tiny egg shaped bulge in his shirt tells me he's up to something. My little boy approaches me slowly, his hands gently rubbing the hidden lump next to his belly.

I tap the object. "What is that? I ask.

He looks up. "It's my egg, Mommy. I'm trying to make it hatch."

He carefully exposes a little of his precious baby from under his shirt and then tucks it back in and continues caressing the cold, hard shell, obviously acquired from the fridge.

"Babe, this egg needs a daddy in order to hatch," I run my fingers through his sandy brown hair and he looks up at me with questioning, hazel eyes.

Then he lights up. "I can be it's daddy!" And he dashes off, baby twisted inside fabric, love warming it.

 

He must have given up because lunch comes and goes and I never see or hear about his tiny adopted one again. I miss my opportunity to teach about fertilization but I chalk up the absence of the egg to more of a lesson in patience, for the moment.

I capture my boy's little-ness with my words, and keep it wrapped in a special spot on this blog. My babies, growing, changing, and learning, are rarely tickling my heart with their naive and hilarious misunderstandings of life these days. Mostly, they are astounding me with their knowledge of the world and their intelligent thoughts. I miss my little ones but I'm finding lovely tidbits of those wise and wonderful big-kid moments to keep tucked away here too. Gifts--all of them.

 

Gratitude:

 

1582. growing, changing and becoming big

1583. innocent, naïve, childish little-ness

1584. beginning gratitude journals with the kids and the stuff they praise for.... wow!

1585. beautiful, glorious, warm sunshine streaming through my window--truly the real first day of spring :)

1586. the return of the robins and how they love to nest under our deck each year

1587. comfort through my Bible reading this morning (furious underlining!)

1588. her playing of "River Flows In You" and how it's becoming fluent

1589. new friends (can we still be making them at this age? yes!)

1590. dear, old friend (and her little girl) --how her return has graced my life

1591. neat and messy hair buns, braided, twisted or wrapped--thankful for girls!

1592. the way she picked up lyrical dance this year and how her solo nearly brought me to tears

Day Seventeen (of 31 Days)

Young people teaching other young people to draw near... now that's what Paul was talking about when He warned not to let anyone look down on you because of your youth (1 Timothy 4:12). My husband and I have been in awe and thankfulness for our eleven year old daughter, who leads other little girls in prayer, dancing as worship, and mentoring by her example each Saturday. Yesterday was the dance finale and parents, siblings, grandparents and friends were their captive audience--finally :) I hesitated, at first, to allow Meghan to run such a group but I'm grateful that I let my girl shine where she shines best and over the past six weeks, she's proven she can do it. I encourage you to allow your children who exhibit leadership skills to use their gifts for God's glory right now. They're never too young to demonstrate what it means to draw others close to God at their own level... and there's a good chance, they'll make it way more fun :)

Worshiping Through Dance (and... My Eleven Year-Old Teacher)

She wrote a letter inviting little girls between the ages of six and nine to join her six week dance class. She stated that it would be a dance of worship and praise to God and that the music would reflect that. The response was a resounding yes and she was elated! Meghan set about ordering these sweet t-shirts for the girls, choreographing the song and preparing herself for that first Saturday. Her students arrived, eager to learn and quite excitable :)

Meghan began with prayer and handed out the shirts. She told the girls the name of her group is "Sparkle On The Inside And Out Dance Group".

They did some warm ups and then she began to teach them the ballet/lyrical moves to the song.

In starting position. Three more girls come next week and these ones will teach them what they know. After that, Meghan will get pickier about their positioning and movements.

Waving back and forth, following their teacher.

A proud girl smiles at how beautifully it all came together. One little girl said to her mom at the end, "Meghan's not a good teacher... she's a very, very good teacher!" :)

The song the girls are dancing to is here...
http://www.purenrgonline.com/
(click on song #6 When I Call On Jesus)


And Meghan's favourite verse is:
1 Timothy 4:12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.