the dreams I have

You are such a wonder

I danced when you were born

Celebrated every step

And held you through each storm

I've seen your tears

And felt your fears

As your heart broke in two

I only wish that you could see

The dreams I dream for you

I've seen you struggle forward

I've watched you fall behind

Courage only goes so far

When faith and fear collide

But I know what you're made of

And all that you could do

I only wish that you could see

The dreams I dream for you

When you're standing all alone

And you wonder if I'm there

Or why the road seems longer than it should

I am right beside you,

even closer than a prayer

You know I'd walk this journey for you

if I could

I hope you never settle

For less than you can be

For time will test your mettle

But truth will set you free

So spread your wings imagining

There's nothing you can't do

For you could never dream beyond

The dreams I dream for you

Words & music by Anita Renfroe & Jim Robinson

These are the words to one of the songs on the Anita Renfore cd I got today. Most of the stuff she does is just funny & silly, but this song is one of the serious ones. She originally wrote it with a friend about her children. They realized that it could be a song that speaks of the way God feels about all of us. I like it a lot and it makes me think of all the dreams I have for my sweet little girls.

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What Katie is into right now:

She is really into "God made.......". She also talks about things being painted. Why? I don't know. She said something about us painting our (kitchen) chairs. I absently said yes. Then I corrected myself and said that no, we didn't paint them. She said, "God painted them." She had a blanket later and said, "God made the blanket." In our bubble bath tonight (all 3 of us girls were in there!) she said, "God made the bubbles." Sometimes I say "yes." Sometimes I try to explain that God didn't actually paint the chair or make that particular blanket but that He made the people who did make those things. I think this started because I would ask her "Who made the grass?" "Who made the birds?" etc. Those are easy because God did actually make those things. When she starts bringing in blankets & chairs....what do you say? Do you just say, "Yes, God made everything!" or do you get more technical about it?

Today I heard Katie singing the Heaven song to Strawberry Shortcake. "Strawberry Shortcake, I want to see you up in Heaven........." I usually ask her if she had a 'sweet sleep' and ask her what she dreamed about. Today she said, "Baby Jesus." The other day when I asked her what she & her friend Dillon talked about at dinner (they sat at a table together after Life Group), she said, "Baby Jesus." Funny! That just seems to be the answer right now....whether or not it's true!

She has started saying, "I love...." She loves Spiderman. She loves Thomas the Train. Yes, this is my little girl. We saw Spiderman u-n-d-e-r-wear at Target the other day and she loved it. I moved on and showed her the Thomas u-n-d-e-r-wear. She loved it too. She said, "Thomas is for boys" kind of sad. I said, "You can like Thomas and you can play with Thomas but you can't wear Thomas u-n-d-e-r-wear." You have to know Gracie to know that this hasn't been an issue until Katie came along. Gracie has always been quite content to play with "girl" things while Katie loves the "boy" things too! Don't get me wrong. I think it's fine for Katie to like Spiderman and Thomas the Train. I draw the line at her wearing the u-n-d-e-r-wear though!

She sings the "Little Einstein" song all the time..."We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship; Come on, let's go; Little Einstein." (words may not be exact) Another common phrase to hear her attempt to say is, "Hot Dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog!" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

She'll frequently say, "Good dinner, Mommy!" Even if all I did was open a can, she'll say it.

She loves fruit snacks and chose them over frosted cupcakes yesterday....crazy girl!

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What Gracie is into right now:

She is enjoying her memory challenges in Bible Class. She said the books of the Old Testament this last Sunday and did a great job! She worked really hard on memorizing them.

Today she asked me, "On my calendar it says tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. What is that?" I wasn't sure what to say-and neither was Chris-so I told her I would look it up and tell her about it. Chris & I neither one know much about it. Is that bad that I don't know? Isn't it mainly observed by Catholic practicing people or am I going to look really stupid for thinking that?

She had a sleepover Sunday night here at our house with her best girlfriend and they had lots of fun. Lots of giggling, lots of planning what to do, etc.

She is still reading a lot and doing well in school. She still enjoys it and I'm grateful for that. The other day she parked herself on the couch with a book and Chris told her to go brush her teeth. She sighed and said, "Can't I just have some time to read?!?!" Another time he told her to go do something and she sighed and said, "Okay...but I'm going to read while I walk!"

One of her friends from school has come to church with her the last few Wednesday nights. They were having me call out Scriptures for them to look up before church started one night. When they both found it, I guess they were reading over each other shoulders and Gracie said, "Mine doesn't say the same thing." They had different translations and she noticed that. I thought that was pretty cool for someone so young to notice. We need to show her Chris' Bible he has (parallel Bible???) that has 4(?) different translations in 1 Bible!

The other day I was looking at buying something on Ebay. It was from the United Kingdom. I was talking about how I wasn't sure I wanted to buy it from outside the US and wondering how far away that was. She said, "I'll find out." She ran to her globe and ran back to tell me how many miles away it was! Pretty cool globe where you can touch 2 different places and it will tell you the distance between the 2!

When I took her to the doctor last week (she had strep!) she was still only 36 something lbs. She's 6 1/2 years old! I'm assuming one day she will put some meat on those bones of hers; wish I had that problem!

I love it when she says, "You're the best Mommy." I follow up with, "You're the best 6 year old!"

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Both of the girls are so funny in their own ways and I love them both dearly!