Elle has had quite a summer just in the past two weeks! Last weekend she was invited to a slumber party, her first! They were also taking all the girls to a waterpark about 30 minutes away. I had to do some praying and hard thinking about all that. I know that parenting is all about making hard decisions, but I truly wrestled with this one. Elle is slowly dipping her toes into the waters of ...hmm...what's the word...it's not adolescense yet is it? Well maybe you get the gist. She's beginning to grow up a little, and with that comes my responsibilty to loosen my tight grip....ever so slowly. It's not realistic to say that she can never be with any other adults or kids and etc...unless I'm around. At some point, I have to allow her to stretch her little wings out and test them out a little. How else will she learn independence than allowing her the opportunity to try to take little test flights. Anyway, she had a wondreful time at the sleepover, and didn't sunburn or drown, didn't learn any new bad slang or curse word, or to my knowledge learn any weird myths about sex, so I'm calling it a success! lol (and yes, even at 8 they are hearing weird myths about sex....many of them have older siblings!) Here's a picture of her a few days ago. I was setting up for a photoshoot in my backyard and needed to test my camera...she was glad to be the stand in...nerd glasses and all.
This past Friday, her best friend at church invited her to a Girl Scout sleepover at the zoo! This was much easier to send her to, since the Girl Scout troop was all girls that went to a christian school in Austin affiliated with the church of Christ and the troop leader happens to be one of my best friends. MUCH EASIER! But it still was hard letting her go almost an hour away to the zoo and not being there if she needed something. She on the other hand, had a wonderful time and couldn't and wouldn't stop talking about it all day yesterday! If only this girl scout troop wasn't such a far drive, I think I'd encourage her to join. I'd love for her to have a group of Christian girls to do things with!
Anyway, here's a few pictures I've taken of her lately. She is such a beautiful child and I have no idea how our genetics worked so well to make her, but I'm so proud of the young lady that she's growing into. I have a lot of weigh on my shoulders to help mold her into what God wants, but I'm so thankful that He trusted me enough to let me have her!
I found her on the sofa the other day during quiet time, snuggled all under a big comfy blanket and watching TV. She looked so comfortable I wanted to lay down right beside her and take a nap!
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