During a youth leadership conference this past March one of the main speakers spoke on the subject that we all can get burnt out in ministry and we need to find something in our life away from ministry that keeps us going. He called this our strawberry. Well, I have 4 strawberries and their names are Emma, Charlotte, Anne-Claire, and Elise.
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(from left) Anne Claire, Charlotte, Emma, Elise |
I met Michelle and the two youngest (Anne-Claire and Elise, now 2) during MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers--a bible study group for mothers). The twins came into the nursery at just 5 months old. Because they were born preemies they were the size of 3 month old babies. My sister, Stefanie and I gushed over how adorable they were, and luckily, since there were two of them and two of us we could each hold one! The twins became our favorites at MOPS and any Thursday they didn't show we were so sad. We even nicknamed them (Michelle, something I never told you LOL). We thought it would be funny if Anne-Claire's middle name was Anne so we called her Anne-Claire Anne and since Elise kind of sounds like Feliz we nicknamed her Elise Navidad. A little silly but it gave us a chuckle :) I didn't meet the older two until Michelle asked me to babysit for them while she took the twins to a doctors appointment. When I met Emma (now 5) and Charlotte (now 3) I knew right then if I could become their regular babysitter and watch them often I would jump at the opportunity! They are the epitome of what a little girl is: loves pink and purple, wants nails painted, has memorized every Disney princess movie, dress up clothes are everyday clothes, plays pretend beauty salon, sings and dances, loves chocolate but also climbs trees, gets dirty, tries to keep every bug found (Emma would bring lady bugs home for Charlotte from preschool). When Michelle asked if I could begin coming twice a week to help with the girls I was overjoyed! Even when our time together became only once a week I was still more than happy to help Michelle and spend my Tuesdays with these little girls. Out of the many things the girls and me loved to do together our favorites include: fishing with Travis, slumber parties, making rice krispie treats, playing dress up, brushing hair, painting nails, and of course tickling! I love these girls with all my heart and our favorite things to do together will always be in my memories.
Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits and it's fitting that 4 of my favorite little girls are my strawberries. Knowing that I would get to see them once a week and spend a few hours with them brought so much joy to my life. Since saying good-bye to them yesterday knowing it would be my last Tuesday with them I haven't stopped crying. My crying will soon turn to tears of joy as I reminisce and look back at all the giggles we've shared. And any time I'm eating strawberries on Tuesdays I'll have a vision of 4 little girls dressed in their princess costumes dancing and pretending to be Barbie Musketeers ("Don't mess with the dress!")
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Fishing with Travis |
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Slumber Party Fort! |
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pool time! |
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Slumber Party! |
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50 piggies! |
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