Here's what it looked like before....
Now I realize that the next project probably should be to use the "Marie Kondo" method of cleaning out the books on the bookshelf that remains. I have gotten rid of many of the homeschool books that we had. I gave many away and sold some. We also kept a few that we sometimes still reference such as for Writing/English and for Math. Here's how the shelf looks in Penny's room...
One thing that's really special about the blue and white cloth, is that I got it the first time I visited Penny's hometown. But, at that time, I didn't know anything about her. I was still single at the time and living in Japan. Little did I know that I was in the same town where my future daughter resided. She would have been four years old at the time. I really loved my time there and had prayed as the airplane took off leaving there, "God, please bring me back here someday, for some reason!"
This cloth is a good reminder of that answered prayer. In fact, farmers in northeastern Thailand sometimes use them to make hammocks to rock their babies in. My daughter may be too big to be rocked, but I love the reminder of her heritage and that it is right next to remembrances of all that she has achieved by graduating from high school in America just six years after arriving in this country!
I thought it was a definite improvement and I even put her Life Book and her High School Life Book on the shelf, which I've compiled for her since she became part of our family and was a high school student. After all, she has no baby book and no high school year book. So, I found these other creative means to save her memories.
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| Life Book |
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| High School Life Book |
But, in order to move the shelf into Penny's room, something had to go. So, I decided to move the little rocking chair that I had painted for her, which was holding her dolls. I moved them downstairs to the guest bedroom. Here's their new home.
Once again, looking at this picture makes me realize that I should really someday go through my book shelves and reorganize them! Penny only made one comment about her dolls moving downstairs. So, when I said, "Well, we can move them back to your room, if you'd like," she replied with, "Oh mom, I'm just kidding. I'm too old for them, anyway." Yes, she is growing up. It's kind of sad, since I only got in on the last 8 years of her growing up years. But, we're thankful to see the progress our kids are making at growing up and being more independent, right?! Well, as much as I thought this new organization system would help with the messy bedroom, it turns out I was wrong. I peeked in there today only to see several piles of papers (at least neatly lined up) on the floor. She said, "Mom, that's for my test. Don't you DARE touch any of my papers!" I guess that, too, is a good sign of growing independence, right?!
