My Budding Artist

This post is a little bit Mother's Day continued, because my mom and my mother-in-law are probably the only other 2 people on the planet who feel as passionately as I do about Sarah's artwork.  So, this post may elicit a well-deserved eye roll or two that I have become one of "those" parents, but that is OK with me.  Because, in my opinion, the process of seeing Sarah go from a toddler who just enjoys the action of scribbling with a crayon across a page to actually being able to draw something that resembles something in reality (all this in only about a year's time!) has been nothing short of incredible.

This is from late fall, when Sarah was in her very prolific painting blobs of non-sensical color stage.

More recently, this Spring, she was doing lots of multi-colored scribbles, many of which I loved, like this one.

Then, all the sudden one day about a month ago, out of nowhere, she draws this.  I was astounded!  I immediately took a picture with my phone and texted it to David.  I mean, not that long ago, she was a BABY, for goodness sakes, and now she draws little people!  It's just miraculous, seriously!

And now she draws pictures with stories, like this one which is a self-portrait, but with long hair.  She added an "S" on the side, since she knows that is the first letter in Sarah. :)

I found this little guy on a receipt I had left lying around; she informed me this one is a "king." In fact, pretty much any paper surface she can get a hold of these days is quickly decorated with one of these (adorable, in my opinion) little figures: grocery lists, the inside covers of books, old church bulletins, etc. I have to say, I am head over heels charmed by these little guys!!!

Ten Things I Love About My Mom

She is the first person, next to my husband since I’ve been married, I want to call to talk things out with when something hard or confusing happens.

Though I know she was exhausted a lot when we were growing up, I never remember her complaining about it.

She was never too busy or too tired to give me encouragement or support or lend a listening ear.

She always helped me finish school projects I had procrastinated on, cheerfully and without told-you-so-ness, though I certainly would have deserved it.

She makes amazing French toast.

She always loved taking my sister and I out for a yummy lunch and shopping.

When I was at camp and early in college, she would write me a hand-written letter nearly every day.  Now she writes emails.  She has almost certainly written me thousands of times, though I have replied to maybe 1 in 10.

She is incredibly compassionate.  Karen Tarver was one person, among so many others, whom she befriended out of a compassionate spirit.

Her laugh—when you really get her going, she will laugh so hard she stops making any noise.  Mostly her son-in-laws do this to her.

Her persistence.  My mom is a lady who gets things done.  Period.  She will keep making phone calls, keep sending emails, do whatever it takes to see a thing through.  Here she is helping me potty train Sarah over Christmas.  She spent literally hours doing this during that visit.  I am totally convinced Sarah would not be [mostly] potty trained today if it weren't for my mom!

Mom, I love you so much!  I could name a hundred things I love about you--in fact at least 5 more things I should have put on this list today have come to mind as I was putting the photos into this post--but I will save some for next year. ;)  I am so thankful the Lord gave YOU to me as my mother!  So much of what
I do in mothering Sarah is inspired by you. Happy Mother's Day!