more "spoil me" time today.......with Claire
This morning, Claire and Grace and I left town at 6:45 am. Grace was scheduled for her third SAT exam in Sioux City and Claire unexpectedly had a free day to do some shopping. She hadn't had her "spoil me" day yet and its so hard to find time for Claire to go anywhere but work or school or dance or friend stuff.....so we seized the moment and Roger stayed home with the rest of the gang.
We found everything on Claire's list, I think, plus a few surprises. Last weekend we de-cluttered her room and made a feeble attempt to spiff it up a bit. Today, as we were wandering around Target, we found a different bed spread and rug and wall hangings and started working at "growing up" her room a bit. , I knew the check-out bill was rising but it was so fun to walk the aisles together and brain storm ideas for her room that she liked and felt good about......as I have written before....we all need that space to call home that makes us feel right. As the morning of shopping ensued, I discovered another surprise. It felt so strange to be typical and not worthy of notice, meaning Claire and I look like a mom and her teen daughter out shopping on a Saturday morning. For me.....this is unusual. Usually, I'm with the little kids who are obviously adopted because of racial differences, and because I am an older mom, sometimes people assume I am grandma or foster mom.....and today with Claire, no one mentioned our relationship or what we were doing. We blended in like everyone else. I had kind of forgotten what it felt like to blend in.
At noon, we took a shopping break after some serious success at discount stores and went to get Grace from her exam at Morningside College. Grace doesn't have a phone right now so we had agreed to meet at noon at the drop off spot. We got there at noon and waited and waited and waited....and by 12:35 I was clearly worried. Where was she? What if someone kidnapped her? How would we know? Where could she be? ( All the worst episodes of crime drama that I am known to watch came flooding back to me as I worried about sweet Grace, in the US all alone.) I started to pace and pray and worry and watch.......and got almost all the steps on my fit-bit.....and then I saw her across campus. Relief flooded me as she ran to me and I gave her a big hug. They had moved her test across campus. That was all.
Grace has only been with us for 3 months, but we are pretty attached to her, and if anything would happen to her, I would feel responsible, even though she is 18. I am so grateful that she is ok.
When we got home we got busy with life and I really wanted to help Claire try all the new stuff in her room but she was exhausted and wanted to snuggle on her bed with her computer and rest.....and the other kids needed me.....so I still haven't seen how the new stuff all looks. Claire has great taste. At 16, she is learning what her style is for clothes and for decor and I love what I see. She is classy. She is tasteful. She is beautiful. It was so fun to spend a few hours with her alone this morning.....and really enjoy the young woman she is becoming.
My last surprise on Claire's spoil me Saturday was with her last purchase today. This morning, across the table at Starbucks having breakfast, she said, "hey mom.....today is my spiritual birthday!" and I guess it is. She remembers that 11 years ago, she and I sat on the couch together and she prayed the prayer of salvation, asking Jesus into her heart. At a tender 5 years old......she wanted the assurance of salvation and after a good talk about it, she and I prayed that important prayer together. Most years, we remember this date and go buy something that will enhance her relationship with God....like a new devotional or Christian music or something....and have tried to carry on the tradition with the other kids as well. So far, Claire, Isaac, Jeremiah and Precious all have a Spiritual birthday that we can mark on the calender and it is an annual reminder of their commitment to Jesus, and their choice for how to live their life. Claire wanted a new bible. She's been using Roger's life application bible for awhile (because he uses one on his phone) and decided that this year, she would like a new bible for her spiritual birthday.
I think the bible may have been the most expensive purchase today and I gladly and gratefully payed for this item. Claire said," I like that it has the explanations at the bottom of the pages, and also room to write on the pages."......so she has payed attention to how her mama uses her bible all these years.
There are many days that I end the day feeling bad about how I handled things, like a failure as a mom. Today? Well.....today is not that day. As I think about the precious and very rare time I got to spend with this beautiful girl......
I feel deservedly proud and humbled and like maybe, just maybe, I'm doing a few things right.
We found everything on Claire's list, I think, plus a few surprises. Last weekend we de-cluttered her room and made a feeble attempt to spiff it up a bit. Today, as we were wandering around Target, we found a different bed spread and rug and wall hangings and started working at "growing up" her room a bit. , I knew the check-out bill was rising but it was so fun to walk the aisles together and brain storm ideas for her room that she liked and felt good about......as I have written before....we all need that space to call home that makes us feel right. As the morning of shopping ensued, I discovered another surprise. It felt so strange to be typical and not worthy of notice, meaning Claire and I look like a mom and her teen daughter out shopping on a Saturday morning. For me.....this is unusual. Usually, I'm with the little kids who are obviously adopted because of racial differences, and because I am an older mom, sometimes people assume I am grandma or foster mom.....and today with Claire, no one mentioned our relationship or what we were doing. We blended in like everyone else. I had kind of forgotten what it felt like to blend in.
At noon, we took a shopping break after some serious success at discount stores and went to get Grace from her exam at Morningside College. Grace doesn't have a phone right now so we had agreed to meet at noon at the drop off spot. We got there at noon and waited and waited and waited....and by 12:35 I was clearly worried. Where was she? What if someone kidnapped her? How would we know? Where could she be? ( All the worst episodes of crime drama that I am known to watch came flooding back to me as I worried about sweet Grace, in the US all alone.) I started to pace and pray and worry and watch.......and got almost all the steps on my fit-bit.....and then I saw her across campus. Relief flooded me as she ran to me and I gave her a big hug. They had moved her test across campus. That was all.
Grace has only been with us for 3 months, but we are pretty attached to her, and if anything would happen to her, I would feel responsible, even though she is 18. I am so grateful that she is ok.
When we got home we got busy with life and I really wanted to help Claire try all the new stuff in her room but she was exhausted and wanted to snuggle on her bed with her computer and rest.....and the other kids needed me.....so I still haven't seen how the new stuff all looks. Claire has great taste. At 16, she is learning what her style is for clothes and for decor and I love what I see. She is classy. She is tasteful. She is beautiful. It was so fun to spend a few hours with her alone this morning.....and really enjoy the young woman she is becoming.
My last surprise on Claire's spoil me Saturday was with her last purchase today. This morning, across the table at Starbucks having breakfast, she said, "hey mom.....today is my spiritual birthday!" and I guess it is. She remembers that 11 years ago, she and I sat on the couch together and she prayed the prayer of salvation, asking Jesus into her heart. At a tender 5 years old......she wanted the assurance of salvation and after a good talk about it, she and I prayed that important prayer together. Most years, we remember this date and go buy something that will enhance her relationship with God....like a new devotional or Christian music or something....and have tried to carry on the tradition with the other kids as well. So far, Claire, Isaac, Jeremiah and Precious all have a Spiritual birthday that we can mark on the calender and it is an annual reminder of their commitment to Jesus, and their choice for how to live their life. Claire wanted a new bible. She's been using Roger's life application bible for awhile (because he uses one on his phone) and decided that this year, she would like a new bible for her spiritual birthday.
There are many days that I end the day feeling bad about how I handled things, like a failure as a mom. Today? Well.....today is not that day. As I think about the precious and very rare time I got to spend with this beautiful girl......
I feel deservedly proud and humbled and like maybe, just maybe, I'm doing a few things right.
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