Spring Means Growth

This Spring I feel like we are all growing. We are growing closer as a family. We are growing to cling to our savior, Jesus Christ, more and more. And Penny has been talking about the growth she sees in her own life. Sometimes I think it bothers her to be changing so much. After all, change is stressful. She just said last night, "I've changed everything." While I know this hard for her, especially right now becoming a young woman in middle school. But, I'm so proud of her for the many positive changes that I see. There are still some days where she reverts back to infantile behavior. But, that's normal and to be expected. We just have to ride the waves and know that what goes down will come back up again. She always downplays all of her successes or tries not to tell me about them. But, I just happened to discover a paper that I had helped her correct. She did an excellent job of writing it, and correcting it with my help and then typing it up for her ESL class. She ended up getting 110 points out of 100. And, yet, she was just scribbling on the back of the paper for scrap paper. Needless to say, Mommy salvaged it and saved it to add to her Life Book. She also did a great job at the Spring concert. I'm really impressed with her musical sense and her expression. And I'll add that I was mildly embarrassed when she was the only child making faces and gestures and hooting and hollering when all of the musicians were asked to take a bow at the end. Afterwards, a mom I had been chatting with before the concert turned around with a smile and said, "Oh, my, you have your hands full!" This was also the woman that told me that her son talks about Penny all the time. She said, "He needs a strong girl like her to make him listen. He won't listen to his guy friends, but he'll listen to Penny!" Yes, Penny, has a strong personality and it will definitely serve her well. I pray that God will use her in amazing ways. She is a very driven young woman, but also doesn't seem to take things too seriously, at the same time. She worked very hard studying for her world geography quiz. She ended up getting a 100 percent on knowing all countries for seven continents. This from a girl who couldn't even tell you where Thailand was located on a world map when we first met her. The supposed possible developmental delays we were told about were clearly all about her environment. We're so proud of our smart, outgoing daughter. She has a caring heart and is growing into such a fine young woman. So proud to be her mom this Mother's Day!