And so it begins...

I have a teenager. That fact has recently become abundantly clear. Oh, not because of any teenage attitude, thankfully. But...last Saturday night, I drove 4 giggly, loud 8th grade girls, mine included, to Friendly's. To have supper. Without me. Without any parents AT the restaurant. Where they met up with two BOYS!!!!! Yeah, 2 on 1...gotta love those odds! :)

They had supper, didn't destroy the restaurant, didn't get kicked out, and were driven home a few hours later. 3 of them came home to my house...it was loud here. They were giddy, they had a blast, and fun, and that was that.

Now, we have house rules. And one big one is we do NOT date until we are out of highschool! And for the most part, Shao is okay with this. Because she is a smart kid, she realizes that this boy/girl thing can be very time-consuming, very emotional, and very distractive to school and whatever else you participate in (in our case, dance, MANY hours a week!) Obviously I do not consider this "dating." Although two of the kids ARE "dating." Which according to Shao consists of ocassionally going somewhere with a bunch of kids and eating, or bowling, or whatever. And MIGHT consist of talking on the phone, or Facebook. And probably does NOT include talking to one another at school, or having lunch together. Too funny. Actually, apparently the term in vogue is "going out." And my question is always, "Just where are they GOING?" And Shao's reply is "Nowhere!" Silliness...ah, to be 13 again! :) I DO encourage having lots and lots of friends, and it is my sincere hope that many of them will be boys. I DO, obviously, encourage well-planned group get-togethers with large groups of kids...mind you, well-supervised ones. And it was a little nerve-wracking to leave them off at Friendly's. But they were told to NOT leave the building under penalty of death, and that since I frequent that restaurant, that I do NOT want to hear of any bad behaviour next time I went in!!!!!

So...we'll see how this house rule rides over the next few years. I am nothing if not reasonable with many of these, and I may change it, if I feel it is okay to do so. I think that she has enough on her plate, what with 4 days a week of dance, school, where I expect her to do her best, and where she usually is on the honor roll, if not the high honor roll. And it's only going to get more hectic. And then there's volunteer work we do in the summer, and Ballet Summer Intensive Sessions. She is a busy girl, and these are the things that will stand her in good stead in her future choice of careers (being a prima ballerina, as it stands now.) But she is an exceptional kid, and we'll see. I still think that it is hard at a young age to handle the emotional aspects of an intense romantic relationship.

Recently I gave her the go-ahead to begin wearing more than mascara. She does a very nice job of it, and it looks natural. She is thrilled. This was a privilege that she knew she MIGHT get in high-school, but not before. But I knew I could trust her so it was a gift for "GOTCHA DAY." She was so cute...I gave her a makeup bag filled with lash curler, makeup, etc. She looked up and said, "THANK YOU, Mommy, but I can't use these yet." And I replied, "Oh, really? Who said?" At which I was proclaimed the best mommy in all the world, and hugged and loved on beyond reason. Love that girly of mine!

So...now I become even more careful and watchful of this treasure God has entrusted to me. It is SOOO hard to let go. I am working on it. She is patient. It will only get 'worse.' Give me strength, Lord!!!

Blessings...Nancy

Sometimes...

it feels like I have NOTHING of interest about which to blog. Sometimes it seems like it is all I can do to just get THROUGH every day, and arrive at the next. And that bothers me. I am thankful that I AM able to see the blessings in each day, as they come. But the overall view of life...not so great. I feel, at times, that I am just slogging through the murky waters of each day, with no real purpose in mind, no real destination, other than to get through it.

I wish I could SEE that this is what is happening, when it happens. But there are no revelations in those days, just the next hill, the next task. But then I come out on the other side, and suddenly there is joy. As a Christian, I am sure that it is ALWAYS supposed to be that way. It is amazing to me how weak we actually are. How MUCH our flesh gets in the way of serving our Lord, of living our lives as He would have us live, of proclaiming His Son to the very lost and dying world. It really IS true...we see through a glass darkly. Oh, how I long for the day that I see Him face to face! Now THAT is JOY!

Anyhow...we are fine. My eye is doing SO well. I am down to one drop in the eye every OTHER day, for another 4 times, then done! And I go back to the eye Dr. the end of August!!! Now THAT'S progress. I really did think I was going to go blind in that eye...and frankly, I think the Dr. thought so, too! THANK YOU LORD!

Friday night Shao went to the end of the year 7th grade social/dance. She had a blast. But we had a LONG talk about how people there "presented" themselves. She said most of the girls wore full-out makeup, had extremely short skirts on, and didn't even look like themselves. Frightening to me. So far, she thinks this is all SO unnecessary, and so immodest. We are reading through and discussing a book together, that is all about modesty, and I think it may be life-changing for her. Not that she is exactly immodest NOW, but sometimes I think that she is doing this because I say it must be so, NOT because of her own convictions. I really do think, if she takes what this book says to heart, that it will change the way she thinks about a lot of things. So far, she really likes the book. I am reading it TO her, and we discuss points as they come up. Very cool!

Saturday (yesterday) I went tag-saling with my niece Jen and the two baby girls. Oh, did we have fun! Those little ones get sweeter and cuter, and more dear every day! They were full out laughing yesterday. At one point I was talking to Hayleigh, and she was laughing hysterically at me, when I turned and looked down at Cadence, who was smiling from ear to ear at me, and when I spoke to her, SHE began to laugh as well. I love those babies, I truly do! I bought some clothes for Shao and a necklace and hairband for her. Jen bought a whole bunch of clothes for the girls...we stumbled on a tag sale of a family with 22 mo. old twin girls! How perfect was THAT?!?! Fun was had by all!

Today we went to church. Man, I love my church. I cannot TELL how wonderful it is to look forward all week to going, to be EXCITED that it is Sunday and we can go to church! Today the Youth Pastor, Ryan, preached again. Man, I love that young man! What a precious heart he has for the world! This was the second part of "Jesus & Culture." Today the message was about how WE as Christians CAN and SHOULD affect the culture and world around us. Very inspiring, thought-provoking, and challenging. Man, I love my church!

Shao is spending the afternoon at a friend's house, and tomorrow she will be marching with the Jr. High Band in the Memorial Day parade here in town. Pretty much all my family is gone away, so no picnics or family stuff for us. But I have some plans. The open house for the "Katherine Hepburn" memorial theatre in Saybrook is tomorrow...she lived nearby, in the Fenwick section of Saybrook, only 20 min. from us. Her will gifted the town with a place/venue for shows, etc. It is finally ready. Thought that might be interesting. Then nearby a local Morgan Horse farm has an open house. They have two new foals (possibly three...one was due this week!), so it should be fun. Plus I want to scope Shao out to see if she might like to volunteer there on the farm. It is one of the premier Morgan farms, working hard to keep the breed alive, and Mary Jane, the owner, is quite up in years, thus many folks volunteer. The volunteer system is loose...you just show up, no real schedule, so it might work well for us! :)

That's about it for us. A short work week for us, then the following week is "Production Week" at the ballet school, culminating in the recital at the Schubert in New Haven Friday evening. Then 2.5 more weeks of school and SUMMER! We leave the morning after school gets out for New Hampshire, to see our beloved Donna and Ron/Gramma and Grampa! They are coming up from Florida the first week in June. We are so excited...it's been much too long since we saw them last! It's hard to be so far apart!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blessings...Nancy