It has been fun to start helping the girls see some of the gifts that God has given them, help them be able to use them and encourage them as they use their gifts. This part of parenting is awesome! God has given Claire a gift to love and help younger kids. It is very evident in her life.
God provided a really great opportunity for Claire to use this gift a couple months ago. The girls go to a homeschool coop class (drawing) for one hour every Tuesday. There is a Kindergarten/1st grade coop class two hours a week at the same building on Thursdays and the teacher was looking for a helper. After hearing how much Claire loves helping out at church with younger kids, the teacher asked if Claire could be her helper. It is such a win, win, win situation. Claire loves helping younger kids, she is good at it (she is not shy, but confidant and takes initiative to help) and she is sure to learn a lot in that class. I love how God orchestrated this!
A couple months ago I asked Claire to give the boys a bath and put their p-pops on because I was finishing up Zoe's hair after dinner and Jason was working late. Not only did she do that, but when I went in the boys room to check on them, I found Claire reading to the boys on the bed, one boy on either side of her (she can't even really read yet, but she tells stories from the pictures - I love it!). Each boy had their own monkey all wrapped up in a blanket. Abram's monkey had a diaper on (just like he wears) and Isaiah's monkey had a pull-up on (just like he wears). Of course Claire had helped them do all of that. It was too stinkin' cute!
Claire is VERY relational. She likes being around other people and I am still amazed at her confidence in interacting with others. She is also quite perceptive when it comes to relationships. She is very aware of people's feelings and interactions. The other day we had some new friends over (three kids, their mom and their grandma). After they had been here for about ten minutes, I looked over and saw that the grandma had a glass of water. And that was because Claire (unbeknownst to me) had already asked if they wanted water. Sheesh! She put me to shame in the hospitality department! Combining her past experiences (being in need and being an older child helping others in Africa) with her budding maturity and gifts from God, this girl has an amazing heart to help other people. If you were to ask her what she wants to do when she gets older, she would tell you she wants to go back to Congo and help kids. If this is God's plan for her, we would LOVE to cooperate with God to help her achieve it.
But for now we are working on helping her obey mom and dad. :) She struggles with this (of course - what child doesn't?!). She is so much like me . . . the oldest child of the family who is often times too responsible for others and tries to be in charge too much and she is very emotional. It is great to be able to impart God's truth to her daily as we parent her now. On more than one occasion I have told her that I think God has great plans to use her life for His kingdom (which she is excited about) but obeying mom and dad is the best thing she can do to prepare for that now. :)
Claire is my laid-back, likes-to-lounge-around girl. I love how genuine she is. She has matured SO MUCH in the last months so she doesn't like to play nearly as much as she did before. She and I share lots of clothes these days. :) School is not Claire's strong suit, but little by little she is starting to make progress with reading and math. She loves to listen to stories so in addition to me reading to her, she listens to a lot of stories on CD and books on CD from the library. She loves hugs and reminds us if we have forgotten (or if she thinks we will forget!) to give her a hug and kiss before bed.
I am so incredibly blessed to be Claire's mom. SO BLESSED. I can't imagine my life without her. She is doing so well that I feel like she has been my daughter forever. In fact, sometimes I am caught off-guard when a situation reminds me of what her life used to be like before she came into our family. It almost doesn't seem possible. I am blown away by God's ability to HEAL and RESTORE a child's life after he/she has been through and witnessed such tragedy. It has been an amazing joy to watch God work in her life and see her blossom into the girl (on her way to being a woman really fast!) He created her to be. Words could never express how THANKFUL I am that God chose me to be her mom. He is so GOOD!
Claire with her cousin, Mya.
1 comment:
I loved this post. Thanks for sharing. Her smile gets me every time. Pure joy!
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