Day 33. Let it fly.

Emma had a girl date with her friend Ella and her mommy Gina today. They went to the mall...rode the merry go round, had cookies, shopped Hello Kitty! Yay... for girl time. Sounds perfect to me.

I kept Ella's 7 month old sister at home with us and did school with Cameron and Taylor. We had some fun stuff today. Cameron presented his science report and we did some experiments with light (in our closet under the stairs). My favorite though was our Bible project. It was due today.

Every week we will be taking a character trait and doing an activity with it. This week was creativity. Our lessons this week were about creation and how creative our God is. So, I challenged the kids to figure out this week what creative gifts that God has given them and then to demonstrate it. That was the only instruction they had, as part of the assignment was to be creative.

Taylor made a picture and wrote a story called "The Creative Columnist". Emma made a picture. Cameron built a rubber band gun. He demonstrated it. It was unbelievable how fast that thing shot. Shawn is off work today, so he was able to witness the project presentations. It was fun to have him in the classroom.

It was an interesting dynamic to watch the kids do oral presentations in front of just our family. I would often go into the classroom at school and watch the oral presentations they would give. Cameron was always very nervous, Taylor was usually not. I was surprised to see that Taylor, our outgoing daughter was very silly-esque today when presenting. Almost embarrassed. It fascinated me. I think perhaps it was that she really exposed a piece of her little heart in her story. Even with the comfort of her family surrounding her, it was tough to throw her heart on the line. The risk is there, that someone will do or say something that will hurt her feelings. Whether its intended, or not is not even the point. It is just scary. I think most school reports were not an issue for her because they were usually straight facts.

I wonder how to best to instill confidence into these kids. One gift I am not sure how much I can control, but desperately want to give my kids is the ability to know who they are and the confidence to live that out. There are too many adults who live safe. Afraid to get hurt. This is masked in many ways, but you can see it in their eyes. My good friend Nicole, often says that everyone has an inner freak flag that they are dying to let fly. It sounds ridiculously funny. However, it is so true.

I stumbled across a Bible Study a couple of years ago that will forever be monumental in my life. It is by Angela Thomas, called, "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?" She compares our lives to a dance. Challenges us on if we are wallflowers or really living. This is a section that impacted me deeply when I read it for the first time. It so eloquently says, exactly how I feel and what I want to instill in all of my kids...

"Dancing for me, means living in the fullness of my gifts and passions. Drinking deeply of relationships, adventure, and learning. Dancing means being fully alive and in step with the movement and plans of my Father. I don't want to miss anything God had in mind for me. I want to grow and become and change. I call it dancing in His arms."

Now there is just 137 school days left until summer.