I'm just wondering if there are any other moms with just 1 child out there? And is it a girl? It's ok if you have a boy, it's probably just as relevent.

It's about the whole 'socialization' thing. Lovebug doesn't have a lot of girls around that are her age and it's really hard on her to not have a friend. We attend a wonderfully fabulous church, but it has a very small older youth population. Most of the children are 10 or younger. The majority being a few months to 4 yrs old or so. Lovebug is going to be 13 and the only other kid I can think of that age is a boy. The other girls are at least 15 and up, and there are only a few of them. There is a BIG difference between going-to-be 13 and 15 or 16. They are a pretty good influence on her and she knows them enough as a positive and safe peer group, but to have friends your own age-it's different. You know, someone to call and hang out with. Someone who likes nice things and has a good solid foundation in their faith. Someone who believes the way we do about family and faith. The girls at our church are great, and they are like that, but their friendships are already established and they are the same age. They have been haging out for a few years now while Love was still a little kid. Lovebug is a young newcomer. You can tell the difference in maturity levels and interests. It's just not the same.

We do go on a lot of field trips so she's 'getting out' and 'socializing', but she has no close friends. I am seriously thinking of starting my own girls group at our church (Keepers of the Faith type thing) and opening it up to other area churches so she can meet other girls. I would have the age group be from 11-14 or something like that. I don't know. I'm just not sure what to do. There's no way on earth I would put her back in public school! There has to be something out there. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm desperate!

Blessings,

Traci  :)

Well, Lovebug's back from camp and she is full of great stories about how much fun she had. She said the worship was great, the preaching was great and she even went kayaking! It's cute how she explained that she was going to go canoeing, but it was 7$. Kayaking was only 5$. Because it was cheaper to go kayaking, that's what she picked! I'm so proud of her. I should also mention she called one night and was going down the list of candy and pop she had consumed. What I wanted to do was give her the 'don't eat a ton of candy because' talk. I found myself holding back and saying, "oh? really?". She will have to put into practice what I've taught her some day and I wanted to give her a chance to rise to the occasion. I also figured it was a camp thing and I turned out to be right. Since she has been home I haven't heard one request for candy. Besides, she would rather drink water or milk than pop any day. Even when we go through the drive-thru somewhere she forgoes the pop and asks for milk or water. That's by her own choice. We've never really been anti-pop or candy crusaders, but we don't usually have a whole lot of it around either. Mostly because it's expensive and also because it's not good for my hypo-glycemia. Asa prefers coffee.

Well, anyway, we had a lot of badly needed rain over the weekend and Asa and I went chasing after the storm on Friday night. It was fun. We watched it roll in and then drove right into it once we realized it was just going to be heavy rain. We're Skywarn spotters and Ham radio operators so don't panic, we're trained. It was really cool this time because we replaced my dying '86 Mazda w/a '92 Jeep Cherokee. So, we have more height for the antenna and more room for a radio. Oh yeah and 4x4 capability!

I need to get some cleaning done now so you'll have to excuse me. I'll post again soon.

Blessings,

Traci :)

I know that these are last years school pics but we haven't gotten this years done yet. I just wanted everyone to see how beautiful my DD is and to know how much I love her. We have been a team for her whole life and now we are a family with Asa taking the role of her step-father. She is just so precious to us and she is one of the reasons I get up in the morning. She's a reason I'm still on this Earth-literally. She's a reason I want to have more children and to give my best at the things I do. I thank the Lord ALWAYS for giving her to me. She is blossoming into a young lady right before my eyes and it's so hard to imagine her as anything but a cute, little, curly-angel-haired, running around hugging everyone, sitting so close she's on your lap, laughing and being silly, girl--my little Lovebug.

She is so thoughtful and generous. She is very bold in her faith and reaches out to people with the love of God. If she sees someone in need, she tries to meet that need. She is so friendly and loves to hug people and snuggle. She's happy, bright and witty. I could go on and on...of course!

I am so grateful for the priveledge of knowing her and trying to raise her for the Lord's service. May I do Him justice in this precious life!

How do you feel about your kids? Have you told them lately?

Blessings,

Traci :)