Everyone thought we were having a boy.
Expecting our first child, we opted to be surprised in the delivery room. And we were, as old wives tales and predictions of friends were proven wrong by an exuberant “It’s a girl!” Giddy and exhausted, I didn’t notice until everyone had cleared out of the delivery room, leaving just our new little family of three, that my husband was very quiet. Was he disappointed? Oh no, he assured me.
“It’s just that now I have to protect her.”
Seven years since that first night, and Maya fills our lives with pinks and purples, ponytails and princesses. She’s smart and snuggly and oh-so-sensitive, and every day I experience a little more of what Mark felt at her birth – deep joy mixed with bittersweet anticipation of things we’ve yet to navigate.
The balance between gripping her close and letting her fly.
She’s reaching the age of fickle friendships, longer looks in the mirror, and mean kids on the school bus. The world around her whispers its messages of worth and importance and how to fit in. And I read stories, drive to ballet class, and talk long in the dark at tuck-in time, praying with everything in me that those clamoring claims of what she’s supposed to be would buckle under a sure and solid knowledge of who she is.
Our always-and-forever baby girl.
And a beloved daughter of the King.
What have you found to be the greatest joy in raising a girl? The greatest challenge?
Our giveaway for today is sponsored by Tommy Nelson. They are generously giving away a wonderful Princess Prize Pack including a Princess Bible, Gigi, God’s Little Princess Doll, Gigi Bedtime Story CD, and Gigi DVDs. If you have a little princess in your home, you do not want to miss out on this great prize! Don’t forget that all entries for daily giveaways automatically enter you for the grand prize $100 Spa Finder gift card!
{Take a few moments to enter this giveaway and you’ll be ahead of the game for all of the others we’ll have this week. Once you register with Rafflecopter, you are ready to go for any future giveaways. Plus, our grand prize $100 Spa Finder gift card winner will be drawn from all giveaway entries from now until the end of our 12 Days of Giveaways. The more you enter these giveaways, the more chances you’ll have to win the grand prize!}
