I love EIGHT.

I LOVE babies. I mean truly I love the baby stages & everything about them. So much so I have been scared to death for my kids to grow up. Something inside me told me that they would hit a certain age & I wouldn't like them anymore. Sound ridiculous? I know! I mean, I would always love them, but would I enjoy spending time with them? I am not a big fan of those "elementary years". As my oldest has grown I have had this underlining fear that at some point she was going to turn into this little human that I could no longer connect with, that we would fall out of love, that she wouldn't be enjoyable... Granted she is only 8 & I know that we still have many challenging years ahead, however, let me just tell you that I LOVE EIGHT!

Eight really is great!

She still calls me MOMMY.

Every night without fail she asks me to stay in her room & rub her back til she falls asleep.

If there is a problem in her life she never hesitates to say, "Mom, What should I do!?"

I'm still smart, in her words "the smartest mom ever!" ;)

She proudly holds my hand when we walk through the mall.

Every morning when she leaves for school she hugs me goodbye & mouths to me 

"I don't wanna leave you!" & blows me a kiss.

She plays her heart out at basketball & then comes home & sings her heart out to Jesus (up in her room, as if we can't hear her)

Her beauty is

breathtaking.

Her smile, free to give away. it never hesitates. It shares what her heart is experiencing.

She sees the best in everyone & forgives so easily.

That laugh, oh that laugh, the one she hates causes it makes her eyes tear up & she tells me, "Mom I am not crying, I am laughing!" That laugh that gives Bevis a run for his money. A laugh we could coin. A laugh that not everyone gets to hears, but a laugh that when it is free, it runs wild.

The way she doesn't care if her clothes match, if they are covered in cat hair, or if her pants are too short. The way she effortlessly throws on an outfit & runs out the door without ever thinking of looking in the mirror.

The way she loves sports over frills & girlie things.

Boys are friends... friends to out run, out score, to go four wheeling with, and exploring for critters with. And dating is just disgusting, "I am NEVER getting married, cause you have to smooch and that is just plain NASTY!"

She hates painted nails & believes nails should be "naked" just as God made them ;)

She would wear a ponytail everyday of her life, no matter the event.

She carries a stuffed animal nearly everywhere we go, despite the fact that people ask if its her sisters.

Her ears are pierced but she doesn't know why anyone would want to put jewels in their ears & who thought of that anyway?

Her PJ's never match.

Her food repertoire consist of about 5 things, yet she loves to help cook.

Her heart is so pure & innocent. She knows right from wrong & it is so simple for her to choose what is right.

Her love is immeasurable. She loves to include. We have had to explain many times that we cannot take her teachers & all her friends on vacation with us... as much as we wish we could!

Her pets are her closest friends, and you can never have too many.

She still plays dolls & make believe.

The nighttime handshake she has with her sister & song they wrote together, it never fails to melt my heart. She tells me, " I want mere mere to know she is special & that I will never leave her!"

I just love everything about this age. Sometimes I just have to take a moment & sit back in awe of this beautiful creation God gave me.

The a day is coming & I know it's not all that far off when all this will change. One day she will wake up & her smiles won't come so freely. That laugh I love, she may learn to hate. She will spend hours in front of a mirror feeling inferrior, not pretty enough, too tall, too thin, too something... She will spend hours obsessing over the waves in her hair & how it won't lay right, she'll waste too much time painting nails & trying on outfits. Those stuffed animals that mean the world to her will eventually get stuffed in a bag & thrown in the basement, her friends will be the only people that really matter  & she will think she is way smarter than her very uncool Mom.  We won't hold hands while we shop. Her interest will change, she'll give up things she once loved out of fear of what others might think, one day she will probably ask me to leave her room so she can be alone & those hugs in the morning will turn into "see ya" as she runs out the door....

Although I know this day will eventually come, I want to hold on to these now moments forever. So just as 8 years ago I held a baby in my arms praying she would never grown up because I was scared what she might be at EIGHT someday.... Truth is, I love her EIGHT! And now I sit back watching her grow, praying for God to never let her grown up, because I'm scared at what THIRTEEN, SIXTEEN, or EIGHTEEN might look like. I have this still small voice inside me that reminds that yes, it will be different,...but...I have this feeling that I will love her still, at 13, 16 & even 18...