Sunday, May 22, 2011

8 Years and 1 month


Her birthday may have been one month ago, but it's still on my mind--I'm so baffled that I actually have an 8 year old! And not just any 8 year old, an Amaleah.

Amaleah~industrious, hard working, likes to work with her hands--that's what her name means, and I'm pretty sure we hit the nail on the head when we named this little worker bee.

Some observations I've made about this little 8 year old girl:
~pretend play is all but gone (with a few lapses into the past when begged by her younger sister)
~her perky little ears can hear everything...
~often she'd rather be in with the adults than playing with the little ones; she enjoys listening to our conversations (and piping in every now and then too)
~she wants to be an integral part of the kitchen...and is demanding more and more adult responsibility, like chopping and dicing and stirring really hot things (I'm starting to realize that a tiny little cut here, or a small burn there, with supervision, are part of life lessons, and I can't protect her from dangers forever)
~enjoying more alone time, but appreciates special time with mom (or grammas)
~steps up to the plate when asked to "be in charge," and quite likes it (much the the chagrin of the younger sister)
~loves to read...would read all day if I let her
~no interest in cartoons at all...there's always something better to do
~loves to play the piano
~always has something on her mind she wants to talk about...often it's something creative and inventive
~has a sense of humor and can usually take a joke, and dish it out as well!

not too old for Easter eggs, even if she did have to wait
5 minutes for the younger ones to go first.
I'm so thankful for my little Amaleah. My prayer for Amaleah is that her natural gifts and desires to be industrious and productive would be used to bless and minister to others. I pray that her love for the Lord Jesus would become more and more real, and that she would listen to His Spirit as He ministers to her heart. I pray that she would desire to read her Bible more and more, and that she would understand what she reads.

3 comments:

Denise said...

Sweet observations... some of the very same ones I am noticing in my big little girl. How precious is this time that the Lord is giving us to cherish these blessings! And to encourage them to live faithful lives for Him!

darcie said...

what a lovely picture of Amaleah on the park fence, with the tree in the background; and I love those toothless smiles!

L M N said...

Just the other day, when I was cleaning out some bookshelves and getting rid of stuff, I found a note that Amaleah sent me over a year ago - I put it in the stack of notes to keep because it was really cute!