she's almost 8...

{these are "before" pictures of her hair...she got it cut today!...you'll have to read to the end of the post to see the "after" pictures :-)}

and i'm LOVING this age. 8. it's great.

you'll remember that she and i didn't have the best beginning.
she was a HARD baby.

well...it didn't end there.
rebekah as a toddler just about killed me.
she was SO hard.

we had no clue what we were doing...since we were "so young" and she was our first.
but, thankfully, we ended up in a parenting class at our church when rebekah was 18 (or so) months old and we put to practice the stuff we learned each week immediately!

that class was amazing.
taught by an elder at our church and his wife that we respect greatly.
we still will go to them with "issues" if we need to bounce them off of somebody (and not just about parenting!)
anyways...that class gave us the foundation we needed to know what God expected of us as parents...and gave us the confidence to do it.

i'm not sure where we'd be today without that class.
and it was a good thing...because even with all that "great" info and teaching...we had a HARD couple years ahead of us!

constant discipline.
crying...from both of us...daily (hourly??)
many times i had to call pat at work just for him to keep me from losing it (or killing her).
we tried to be as consistent as possible.
and it still took many, many months (years, even) to see any result from it.
it was very frustrating.
disheartening.
unbelieveable.
yet so good.
it was a lesson for me that it doesn't matter what others do...i need to obey what God has called me to and "other's" (even my children!) reactions to that are not my responsibility!
that was SO freeing.
(hard...that "mom pride" of wanting to have the perfect kid gets pretty big!)
but such a good lesson.

her toddler years were hard.
then we had a good spell (like 3 1/2-4 years old?)
then another couple hard years (4 1/2-6 1/2 years old)

this is what i would have said about rebekah a year or so ago:
rebekah is stubborn. she doesn't learn things the first time. she learns things the hard way. and once she decides she wants to do something, she doesn't really consider if it's "ok" or not. the fact that she wants to do it is enough for her.

well, now...that is NOT what i would say about her today.

we have entered a new "spell" and i love it!

i am finally, TRULY, seeing the fruits of all of that.
i don't take all the credit...pat is the BEST father...and God has created her to be who she is...but i definitely put a lot of sweat, blood and tears into this too!

and, you know what, it's not pride i feel.
it's love.
i have the tiniest taste of what God must feel when we actually obey Him and seek Him and love Him.
such love.
oh, i love her when she's not obeying me.
but this is different...open my heart wide with amazement kind of love.

today...Rebekah is:
such a thoughtful person. thinks of others first a lot of the time. always thanking me for things i do ("thanks for making dinner, mom" "thanks for taking us to the pool, mom") still very stubborn :-) very protective of her siblings. just a blessing to me and for me to have around!

i don't know what the next few years hold for her.
but i'm thankful we are where we are today.
and i'm trying to pour as much into her these days while it's "easier"...hoping it will help when the "harder" days come...

{can i say i'm terrified about the "teen" years??}

here are the "after" pictures! she's been asking to get her hair cut "short" for about 2 years. but, when she cut her bangs herself. twice. 18 months ago or so. the answer was "absolutely not!"

her hair was really a mess after all the pool, sand/beach time this summer.
and i was ready.
and she's been ready.

it turned out really cute. :-)
i almost cried there in the barber shop {not hair salon! this lady was GREAT!}
not because i'll miss her hair longer.
but because she's growing up.
and i'm so proud of her. and love her so much.

{ignore the face paint from the farm...still makes her my little girl :-)}