"I'm Not Scared!"

I always thought that I would have a daughter just like me in every way (silly, I know). She would have my temperament, my hobbies, and we would get along just fine. Discipline wouldn't be a problem because she would be so well behaved and she would be such a sweet, quiet little girl. Ha!

Then Elliana was born. From the very day she came into this world I knew she would be a challenge for me. She rattled every preconceived notion I had. She was incredibly strong willed right from the get-go. Dr's even commented at 2 weeks old how strong willed she was. As an infant she was also colicky.

As she grew older I learned other things about my Ellie. She was loud (I am not), incredibly extroverted (I am not) and at times, quite a tomboy. I also learned as she grew older that disciplining her would NOT be easy and I would have many embarrassing moments as I tried to tame my wild Elliana.

I remember calling my mom many times asking for advice and even just some help. Then one day mom said something to me that just stuck. I'll always remember this piece of advice. She said "God gives us the children he does for a reason. It's not just because you're the right parent for them, but they're the right child for you. Our children teach us and make us grow in many ways too."

My mom was right. Elliana is only 2 1/2 years old and I've already grown in so many ways because of her. I'll get to what I've learned from her, but I had to share this story;

Every year our small little town holds a Harvest Festival on Labor Day weekend. It's so much fun and family oriented. There are rides, jump castles, music, fair food (unfortunately, I love fair food) and many booths.

We went this past Monday and had a wonderful time. Just as we were getting ready to leave, we discovered the kiddie rides at the edge of the park. Everything was about to close down but Ellie desperately wanted to ride some of the rides. I quickly obliged. After all, you only live once.

Although Ellie was the ONLY child on a lot of the rides, she had a great time.









Do you see that very tall, very steep slide in the background? That's where our story continues.

After riding a few rides, Ellie noticed the very tall (I think it was like 25-30 feet tall) and very steep slide. She insisted that she had to go down it. (I have to note that there were much older children crying because they were too scared to go on this slide and their friends were trying to coax them into sliding down it.) I was quick to point that out to Ellie and tell her it was too big and too scary for her. Without skipping a beat she looked at me and exclaimed "I'm not scared!" Then she marched right up to the man who was letting kids through and handed him a ticket.

As she began climbing the just as steep ladder, I realized that she may not have been scared, but I was. I kept waiting for her to fall of the ladder, or I just "knew" she would get to the top and change her mind. But every few steps she would turn around and yell "Mommy! I'm not scared!"

Once she was at the top I couldn't see her anymore. Again, I was waiting for her to cry out for help or say she wanted down. But I never heard that. Just a few moments later she was at the bottom of the slide with a big grin on her face. She exclaimed "I want to do that again!" Of course!



I was so proud of Ellie in that moment. I loved seeing how fearless she was. It was one of the many life lessons she's already taught me.

I have no doubt that God chose me to be her mom or that he chose her to be my daughter. She is nothing that I dreamed my daughter would be-and I am SO thankful! My dreams of a daughter seem so boring now. Honestly, my life would be so boring without Ellie. Yes, Elliana is just what I needed to make me grow into a better person.

Every day I thank God for giving me Ellie and for making her who she is. I can't wait to see what other lessons I'm going to learn from her. And just think of all of the fun we're going to have! ;-)