An Angel Named C.C.
As a Christian mother, one thing I've hoped for my child is that she will have a personal encounter with God that will leave her with wonder and joy, so perfectly suited to her that there is no question in her mind who it is from and who it is for.
Marianne had such an encounter today. It began when we went to her first practice for Upward basketball this morning. For several weeks Marianne had said, "Mommy, I don't want to be the only girl on my team" and I would reply, "Honey, surely there will be other girls just like soccer and it'll be just fine." When we arrived to practice there were 4 teams on the court...and Marianne was the only girl. She got very upset and curled into me, saying she didn't want to play anymore. It felt like a pivotal moment in her little life, one way or another. I didn't want her to quit over being the only girl. If she didn't like the game, sure. If the boys were mean to her, sure. I just didn't want her to live with knowing she quit without ever trying. I reminded her that she was excited about her coach, Mr. Jim. (As a side note, Marianne made sure I met Mr. Jim, who volunteers for children's worship, a few Sundays ago because he's Filipino too. It was a wonderful surprise to know he was going to be her coach as well!) I reminded her her daddy volunteered to be the assistant coach so they could do this together and she'd been wanting to play for months. As the conversation continued, we'd have a breakthrough, she'd try to go be part of the team and come right back to me in tears. I won't go into the details of the several ways I tried to cajole, convince and encourage her to go back but when the whistle blew, my girl wiped away her tears and hit the court. As practice progressed, she continued to improve and the look of joy on her face as she realized it was going to be okay, was such a tremendous GIFT. In addition to that, before practice was over, we saw across the court that another team had ONE girl, just like Marianne's. Here's a pic of my girl, hangin' with the boys like a champ:
After practice, the kids got their jerseys and Marianne got the number 10. As a way to help her feel her number was special, I said, "Wow! On a scale of 1 to 10, you're a ten!" We had an opportunity to try on the jersey to make sure it fit but it was too big. Her second jersey was the number 5. I didn't know how to make a special connection to the number 5. (Even when she was number 23 for soccer I said, "Hey! The day after your birthday!" but for 5,seriously. Blank. Mark later pointed out that her jerseys were connected: 2+3=5. Nice.) With jersey in hand, we went on with our day.
Tonight as a family, we attended a lovely Christmas party hosted by our church and at each table setting there was an envelope. Marianne picked up her envelope and said excitedly, "MOMMY!! MY ENVELOPE HAS A NUMBER 5 LIKE MY JERSEY!!!" We found out later there was a prize drawing using the numbers on the envelopes for the table toppers at each table...but Marianne didn't win. I did. I get a lot of joy extending good fortune to my daughter so I told her she could pick out the prize for me. I REALLY wanted a snowman set that was at a table next to ours. Marianne REALLY wanted an angel that was sitting on another table. As we were "negotiating" the angel and the snowman set, another table was called to pick out their prize. They selected the snowmen. Our table was the next one called and my girl got her angel. After the morning she'd had, I told Marianne I hoped that every time she looked at her angel she would remember her courage to step OUT when everything in her wanted to run away. As she sat there, GLOWING with her prize, it was a sweet moment as we realized how God had orchestrated the day between her jersey, her envelope and her prize. The angel's name is Courage Courageous, "C.C.", for short.
Marianne had such an encounter today. It began when we went to her first practice for Upward basketball this morning. For several weeks Marianne had said, "Mommy, I don't want to be the only girl on my team" and I would reply, "Honey, surely there will be other girls just like soccer and it'll be just fine." When we arrived to practice there were 4 teams on the court...and Marianne was the only girl. She got very upset and curled into me, saying she didn't want to play anymore. It felt like a pivotal moment in her little life, one way or another. I didn't want her to quit over being the only girl. If she didn't like the game, sure. If the boys were mean to her, sure. I just didn't want her to live with knowing she quit without ever trying. I reminded her that she was excited about her coach, Mr. Jim. (As a side note, Marianne made sure I met Mr. Jim, who volunteers for children's worship, a few Sundays ago because he's Filipino too. It was a wonderful surprise to know he was going to be her coach as well!) I reminded her her daddy volunteered to be the assistant coach so they could do this together and she'd been wanting to play for months. As the conversation continued, we'd have a breakthrough, she'd try to go be part of the team and come right back to me in tears. I won't go into the details of the several ways I tried to cajole, convince and encourage her to go back but when the whistle blew, my girl wiped away her tears and hit the court. As practice progressed, she continued to improve and the look of joy on her face as she realized it was going to be okay, was such a tremendous GIFT. In addition to that, before practice was over, we saw across the court that another team had ONE girl, just like Marianne's. Here's a pic of my girl, hangin' with the boys like a champ:
After practice, the kids got their jerseys and Marianne got the number 10. As a way to help her feel her number was special, I said, "Wow! On a scale of 1 to 10, you're a ten!" We had an opportunity to try on the jersey to make sure it fit but it was too big. Her second jersey was the number 5. I didn't know how to make a special connection to the number 5. (Even when she was number 23 for soccer I said, "Hey! The day after your birthday!" but for 5,seriously. Blank. Mark later pointed out that her jerseys were connected: 2+3=5. Nice.) With jersey in hand, we went on with our day.
Tonight as a family, we attended a lovely Christmas party hosted by our church and at each table setting there was an envelope. Marianne picked up her envelope and said excitedly, "MOMMY!! MY ENVELOPE HAS A NUMBER 5 LIKE MY JERSEY!!!" We found out later there was a prize drawing using the numbers on the envelopes for the table toppers at each table...but Marianne didn't win. I did. I get a lot of joy extending good fortune to my daughter so I told her she could pick out the prize for me. I REALLY wanted a snowman set that was at a table next to ours. Marianne REALLY wanted an angel that was sitting on another table. As we were "negotiating" the angel and the snowman set, another table was called to pick out their prize. They selected the snowmen. Our table was the next one called and my girl got her angel. After the morning she'd had, I told Marianne I hoped that every time she looked at her angel she would remember her courage to step OUT when everything in her wanted to run away. As she sat there, GLOWING with her prize, it was a sweet moment as we realized how God had orchestrated the day between her jersey, her envelope and her prize. The angel's name is Courage Courageous, "C.C.", for short.
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3:33 Art: "He Lifts Me Up", drawn on August 3, 2010
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