My Sweet Daughter

I just have to share an experience I had yesterday in getting to know the kind of young woman my daughter is becoming! Yesterday was Stephanie's best friend's birthday (Hannah is her name). Stephanie and Hannah have been friends for well over a year now and are pretty much inseperable. Hannah turned 15 yesterday. Stephanie has always enjoyed giving to others more than she enjoys receiving (an example for me and all around her). Stephanie had been planning for weeks what to do for Hannah's birthday. She did not complain once about money being tight and not being able to spend alot of money on her friend...she just got busy and got creative. First of all, she got her friend a "Hello Kitty" shirt, because Hannah LOVES Hello Kitty (yes, she turned 15!). LOL Second, Stephanie made cupcakes for Hannah and put a few in a container to take to school for her (and she gave the rest of them to her later after school yesterday). But I think the most creative thing she did was to paint the rocks at the school. This was a wonderful process for me to observe for many reasons. Sunday night, I took Stephanie and another of her friends, Apirl, over to the school. It was around 10:30 pm, so I pulled up and pointed the car's headlights at the rocks. The girls then proceeded to cover all 3 rocks with black spray paint and then used differnt colors to write a wonderful happy birthday message to Hannah...for all the school to see the next day. Watching the girls spray paint the rocks was entertainment on it's own, and of course I got lots of pictures. Both the girls and myself were a little nervous that someone would come along behind us and paint over their message to Hannah. But we crossed our fingers and went home. Monday morning, Stephanie and I picked up April and then Hannah and proceeded to school. Hannah was on cloud 9...bouncing around in the car. Stephanie and April and I were nervous and excited. We knew that cloud 9 would vanish if the rocks had been painted over. But...as we pulled up to the school...there was our birthday message...bright and bold for all the school to see. I thought Hannah was going to go insane with excitement!! I have never seen a teenage girl so thrilled! Only a few weeks into high school and all 3 of the rocks were devoted to her special day!! To me though, the most wonderful part was seeing the joy in Stephanie's eyes as her best friend reveled in her birthday surprise. Stephanie wouldn't have had that much joy if it was HER birthday and the rocks had been painted for HER. Suddenly it occured me that my daughter is a beautiful young woman who cares deeply about the ones she loves and gives of herself completely and unselfishly in their behalf. She experiences more joy in giving than receiving! What better gift to a mother than to realize her children are becoming such wonderful young adults! I will cherish this experience always, as it allowed me to take a peak at the kind of person my daughter is becoming!

What I did today...

Today was a wonderful day! My sister, Julie, drove into Charlotte for a quick visit with us. I am always so happy to have family visit! She actually had her "work from home" day today...so techically she spent the day working in my home. While she worked, I worked as well. It turns out that Julie is very creative and came up with a few wonderful ideas for my new business!

From Julie's briliant mind came my new design for my crochet headbands! I have made 2 so far, and I can't wait to create many more in all different colors!! As we were talking, I also decided to take a portion of each sale from my etsy store and use that money to make a hat that will be donated to the "Hat Box Foundation"! This organizations receives hand made hats from volunteers all over the country, boxes each hat individually, and sends them to people who are affected by cancer and other diseases that result in hair loss. For more information, visit my etsy store at http://www.simplymelissa.etsy.com/ and see my "Septebmer Announcement". I am excited to contribute to this wonderful organization that touches so many lives. I can't wait to see how many hats I can donate in the upcoming year! You can also visit their site at http://www.hatboxfoundation.org/.

The rest of my evening was spent making and enjoying dinner with my children, doing some chores around the house, having a little down time on facebook (mostly farming...lol) and browsing all the wonderful handmade items on my favorite website, Etsy.com!

I think I will retire now and get a good night's sleep! I can't wait to get busy again tomorrow!

Goodnight all!

Melissa

Well, here I go!

I am new to blogging and am not even sure what I'm doing here. I love to follow other blogs, so I figured I would give it a shot! I have named my blog "The Climb" because that's the way I am trying to think of my life. The new pop song by Miley Cyrus, The Climb, is one of my favorites. I DO have a goal of where I want to go..."what's on the other side", as the song says...but I want to enjoy the climb. And that is my new focus in life!

I will start this blog by telling you that the most important people in my life (out of many, many wonderful people) are my two children, Mitch and Stephanie! They make my "climb" worth it each and every day, no matter what else has happened! They are wonderful children who constantly tell me how much they love me. They leave little notes for me all around the house. The most recent notes that have really lifted me up are little post-it notes they left on my computer monitor. Every day when I look at these notes, I can't help but smile! The most rewarding thing about being a mother, to me, is watching them grow up and become who they are going to be. I've never had a dream, per say, of what I wanted them to become...because I've just always known that they would become who they are supposed to be! And I've tried to give them the things they needed to do just that. Sometimes, I just have to step out of the way and let them go! Their distinct little personalities from the time of their birth have been very unique and personal...and so much fun to discover. It's amazing to recall a personality trait from their toddler days and to see how it has translated into their adult (and teenage) lives.

My Stephanie was such a quite, reserved little girl who now is very sure of herself and her opinions. She stands up for herself and knows excatly why she does the things she does. I think her quite reserve in childhood was her way of gathering all the information she would need to be who she is now - a strong, independent young woman. I still can't fully imagine the potential within her!! She is going to be an amazing woman in a few years!

Mitch, on the other hand, was a very outgoing...ummmm.... strong-willed (yeah, that's a nice way of putting it) little boy. He knew what he wanted, when he wanted it...and he wanted to do it himself! He was very quick to let you know that it would be just that way! Now as an adult, he's the more cautious of the two of my children...perhaps because he has had so many "learning experiences"...putting it mildly...and has learned the hard way to proceed with caution. He seems to have more "learning experiences" than the average person. Maybe he just needs to learn things differently in order for them to "stick". He has become an awesome young man with many wonderful adventures ahead of him!

So...those are my children! They remind me each day of the beauty in the world and what I am striving for. I think my Heavenly Father for them every day! I am grateful for every choice I made that brought them into my life!

Well...I think that's about enough for day 1. I can't wait to see what inspires me to blog tomorrow!

Melissa