I mean, I’m glad that when I was in 1st grade, boys were more respectful with their comments. What’s the 1980s equivalent to fugly?

Zienne got in trouble so Emma took her upstairs. I heard her say, “Shhh. Don’t cry Zi. I’ll pray for you.”  After praying, she started singing, “I cast all my cares upon You. I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet. When I don’t know what to do. I will cast all my cares upon you.” 

I went upstairs and took their picture to remind them of a moment they’ll eventually forget.

In my life, I’ve met so many people who constantly just want to receive, people who even keep encouragement to themselves, people who hold tight to money that by grace they’ve been blessed with…and only a very small few who naturally LOVE to give. The givers are the ones that teach me about humility, sacrifice, and what it means to be a blessing.

And I’m not talking about someone sharing their large fries over a meal; I’m talking about people I knew who:

• gave their guitars to young musicians who were just starting to learn
• used to shake my hand before I left for college and surprisingly slipped a $20 into my hand
• surprised us with money during Christmas or birthdays during unexpected seasons when we needed a little more than what we had
• gave up their comforts for a cause
• funded other’s people’s college education, medical bills, etc.
• out of their own willing heart, gave a new Coach bag away to someone who’s never owned one before
• treated our kids to a day of fun and food at Chuckie Cheeses
• constantly give $$ every time our youth does fundraisers
• have funded some of our praise team members to attend a huge music conference at no cost
• buy our kids some of the craziest expensive toys that thrend that year for Christmas
• gone out of their way to give you gifts even when they themselves don’t own that much
• always finds things to encourage everyone, which I find, is always needed in ministry and life
• has the heart to cook and feed our choir, praise team, youth whenever there is a function, meeting, or event at church

I always hope I can follow the footsteps of these people because they have been a blessing to me.  

I eventually end up disclosing emma’s reading level but follow it up that what was important to me at Emma’s age wasn’t so much for her to be the best in reading in her class, but more that she takes the initiative to learn and be motivated to do her work.  And she is. And I’m so proud of her.

So we went out and bought her the toy she’s had her heart on:
Yup, her favorite princess, Aurora.

I really see her budding response to responsibility.  When she comes home, she rests for a while and eventually start her homework by herself.  She takes the initiative without me prodding her.  I’m really impressed by that act of responsibility.  I hope this becomes her nature and she follows through with what she starts.  I told that other mom that sometimes, with young kids, they just don’t feel motivated to go to school, listen, or do the work.  Instead of pushing our kids to push out long division, sometimes it’s more important to get them motivated to learn, to reach goals, and esp. to keep at things and follow through with responsibility.  

I’ve learned, having worked with many youth, or even in my ministries, whatever involves reaching a goal with people, the hardest part of the challenge is the motivation and getting them to fully commit despite the hard work, discouragement, failures, and availibility.  I’ve seen that the people I admire the most in these ministries, are not the most talented, but the most committed to finish the task, those who see more of the joy than the complaints.  

We opted to get the full body pose, and lookie what we’ve got here, a hand-on-her-hip kind of girl. I don’t know where she got that, because I’m not a hand-on-her-hip kind of person…  I like to limit the hand-on-the-hip to max, five times a year.  

So, Halloween…yeah…crept up like an unknowing snowstorm during a warm October fall.  I was too cheap to buy a costume and too lazy to make costumes, so I decided to be a little crafty and cater to Emma’s costume wish for this year.  She wanted to be Kiki from her favorite show, Fresh Beat Band.  And since Zienne has learned to love Pucca this year, we recycled Emma’s old costume when she was 2 years old.

Emma’s Kiki Costume:

• cut out pink cardstock paper and decorated our old Guitar Hero guitar. Printed FBB picture & put it on the guitar.  Autographed it with signatures from the band.
• cut the sleeves from an old pink hoodie and sewed the edges to resemble Kiki’s hoodie vest. 
• pinned Em’s hair from the back and made faux-bangs to resemble Kiki’s signature hairdid.

Zienne’s Pucca Costume:

•  took black sweater stockings and made two buns for Pucca’s hair. Added red ribbons.
• wore red chinese dress that we bought for Emma years ago from H&Mbaby.
• carried around Garu.

So after Emma’s school parade, we waited for her to get home and we all went out to trick or treat a little earlier than most of the trick or treaters.  We went kid-time since they had school the next day.  Then we stayed home, handed out some candy and had some dinner w/ their cousins and Kuya Platypus.

Overall, we were just happy that Zi was more proactive this year with walking from house to house and saying “trick or treat” and handing her basket to receive some candy.   

“Lord, thank you for the food, thank you for everything you gave to us.  Please give us a baby brother.  My dad really needs a son.  There’s 3 girls and only 1 boy so we need another boy.  I promise to take care of him.   I promise to care for him.  If he gets mad or sad, I will cheer him up.  Please, Lord, give us a baby brother.  In Jesus name, amen.”