30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 17}

Today  I am thankful for
-conversations with a mom-friend at church that blessed and encouraged us both in this hard mothering job of pre-teens and teens.
- getting to surprise our girlies by fulfilling S/R's big birthday request of getting her ears pierced! What a memorable experience for all of us. They both did so well. S/R was 1st  and was quite surprised at how much it hurt to get it done. Thankfully, we had a great girl doing it and she saw the panic on S/R's face and was quick to finish the other ear. O. did amazing! She was surprisef at how little it hurt, compared to what she had anticipated. I'm so glad I was able to be right there to hold their hands and encourage them. My big girls!
I'm still so surprised at how much the earrings changed O. She looks so much older and grown up now. She came to me in the evening and said, "Mommy, I just walked past my mirror in my room and I didn't even recognize myself with my hair in a ponytail and my ears pierced! I look so much older!" And I totally agree. She does. She's such a gorgeous girl, it's beautiful and painful to see her look so grown-up!
It didn't change S/R at all though. She's still just her adorable cute self. I was so tickled by her. This day was the worst day by far of the canker sore in her mouth hurting her. She hadn't smiled or laughed all day and was very solemn faced. So much so that M. and I were starting to get pretty worried about her by the middle of the afternoon. She's such a smiley girl. We had gotten home from the whole ear piercing after church experience and M. and I were cooking lunch for the kids when we heard an ear-splitting scream come from the bathroom. We both stared at each other and M. asked "Is that a good scream or a bad scream? I can't tell." "I'm not sure either," I said. I headed to the bathroom, dreading what I was going to find, and I poked my head around the door and said, "S/R! Are you ok???" She looked up at me, completely solemn and non-smiling, "Oh yes momma. I'm just so excited that I got my ears pierced and you know I've got to just give a little scream of excitement every now and then to let it out." Apparently, it doesn't hurt as much to scream as it does to grin ear-to-ear. :)
- today is the 12th anniversary of M. asking me to marry him. I'm ever so thankful that he did!
- S/R's comment on the way home from AWANA. "Is God going to be there when we get to heaven? Well, I'm glad he is! Cause I'm going to run up and give him a great big hug and tell him how much I love him when I see him!"