My Baby Girl (and a chance to win a Target $$$ card!)

Oh ladies…..many of you know that our oldest child and only daughter moved to Charlotte, NC this fall to attend cosmetology school and be loved on by my Proverbs 31 sisters. She currently lives with Wendy, works for Lysa and Renee sometimes, and at Melanie and hubby’s gym teaching volleyball other times. She loves school, her new family, all her jobs and Charlotte in general.

We are missing her like crazy. She is my baby girl, after all. Then, yesterday, she got to meet Renee’s baby girl.  (If you aren’t familiar with Renee, she just adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia.)

While making corn chowder, correcting papers and going about my daily afternoon routine, Kenz texted me this picture yesterday.

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I bawled.

I never in all my life have seen her looking so grown up to me. And that baby? The sweetest girl EVER, Kenz assures me.

Someday I’ll share the whole story of her move and my resulting momma emotions.

For now, if you have a baby girl– love on her, whether near or far away. And realize that we moms so shape how our daughters turn out.

More is caught than taught.

I pray our actions find our kids catching us modeling Christ.

Side note: Today Lysa Terkeurst, P31 president, is giving away a $20 Target gift card – yahoo!  The winner will be chosen from the comments left on my site or any of the P31 speaker sites. (You can find them in my sidebar on the blogroll) Leave a comment for any of us and you might be the winner!

42 Comments

  1. How fitting this is for me today. I just got off the phone with my baby girl (she is 18). She is graduating from Navy bootcamp this Friday and I am just so proud of her. She is my only child – and I can’t believe she is all grown up. We have been through some tough times in high school but she recently wrote me a letter to tell me what a wonderful mother I was and that she was so thankful that I never gave up on her. She also realized now how important family is. As her wonderful mother, I also reminded her that God was always by her side. This is a testiment that God is Faithful! I give God all the Glory for my wonderful daughter.

  2. As I sit on my couch with my own sweet baby girl, who is, in fact, literally a “baby” girl, at the sweetest age of 4, I am so thankful for this quiet moment with her, snuggled up to me as she watches Veggie Tales and as I type. The song, “God is bigger than the Boogie man” is playing in the background, and I praise Him for this innocent time in her life (and my other 3 small children’s lives!) that the ‘boogie man” is the scariest threat in her sweet little life and that I can simply “hug” him away as we pray together and she trusts me to protect her. I know that life will not always be so simple for her or for her problems to be solved and her heart comforted, but for now, I give Jesus all the praise that He allowed your words to make me stop for a moment and recognize this sweet, and often very frustrating, time in our lives! Thank You Jesus and thank you Karen for being His servant and instrument in delivering His word!

  3. Karen, I lovelovelove that photo! It gives you a glimmer into her future (if that is what God plans for her life).
    Your words about our baby girls, more is caught then taught, grabs my heart. I was always afraid of having a girl bc of former friendships & my relationship with my mom. But God knew better than I. He knew what I needed. She is 4 1/2 and I’m so grateful God knows best & has His way in gender selection! (He even let my firstborn be a boy). She is so loving! And funny. And even though she is into what her big brother is into (not a tomboy though, nor a princessprincess), some of the things she has done that have added sugar & spice in our lives, no son would do. I never ever thought I could want another girl! She has that power. :)
    I will always hear “more is caught than taught” in the back of my mind as I watch her grow in a blink of an eye, knowing it all goes too fast.

  4. I have one “baby” in December she will be 38 – she is the delight of my heart – although between the age of 14-17 I wasn’t sure if either one of us would survive! But I do know that God’s Word is so true – we fed it to her – prayed for her – remained faithful to her – she saw and felt our and God’s love.
    Today she is a strong leader in her church and true friend to everyone she befriends – once she is your friend – you’ve got her for life! Vanessa Ruth is the “sunshine” of God’s promises in our lives. He two boys (10 years apart, one is 17 and the other is 6) bring joy and delight into our hearts. She is faithful and loving to her husband ( who has been very ill), family and friends. She demonstrates God’s serendipitous joy and love.

  5. Karen,
    I am so glad I read your blog a day late. It has prompted me to spend extra time praying for my two precious baby girls, ages 13 and 15, on this quiet rainy morning here at home. I hope you do share your story soon about Kenz moving to Charlotte and your momma emotions. And I hope you’ll share more about what you learned along your journey of raising her to be the Godly young woman that she obviously has become. I so appreciate your blog.

  6. Beautiful! I have three girls who are just so wonderful! I often wonder if they will grow up to be mature, loving and helpful women. I pray that what I am able to do will be enough to help my girls grow up to be all that they can be. Thanks for the picture.

    Joellen

  7. I go between wanting to move all three of my teens out tomorrow and wanting to discourage them from reading any college literature at all! It seems like anytime I correct them now…I wonder if I’ve trained them enough, given them the right moral and practical knowledge that they’ll need to go out into the world. I always end up telling myself that I turned out just fine without the benefit of a lot of either. Thanks for sharing your feelings about letting your daughter go.

  8. Karen, what a beautiful photograph of your daughter and Renee’s newest blessing. It made my heart melt….it made me think of how love made Renee and her family venture across the world to become a family and your daughter to venture to Charlotte to be with your Sisters in Christ. God is so good and moves in marvelous ways.

    Blessings to you always and thank you for opening your heart on your blog. I always am encouraged!

  9. This is my first time here! I was actually reading Mary Beth’s blog and saw that you have a “Brain in a Binder” that I wanted to check out. I know I am going to enjoy looking around here! Blessings!

  10. Happy happy picture of your daughter with Aster. Lysa led me to your blog today. But I will have to say I have read and reread your organizing book this fall. We are expecting baby #4 which was a surprise to us but not to God. Your book has been a gift this fall as I am on nesting mania. I appreciate it so much.

    I bet you miss your baby girl…but how fun she is with renee’s baby girl today. Sweet

  11. Karen,
    I love checking in on your blog. thank you for sharing! My baby girl is 14yrs old and time has gone quickly. She is a beautiful girl and I pray she will know she is loved so dearly by her Dad and me. She is going through hard times with some friends at church. She is being excluded for no reason. My emotions have been all over as I have observed and talked with her.

  12. I have an oldest and only daughter too.
    then 3 boys which are a blessing too.
    My daughter is 20 and moved about an hour and a half away. She comes home some weekends but I miss her when she’s not here.
    Thanks for the encouragement. Sometimes it seems I’ve failed in teaching but then God lets me know that it’s Him who does the growing
    thanks again
    Jackie

  13. Thank you for the reminder of how precious my daughter is, she hasn’t been acting so precious lately & to be honest, I haven’t treated her as such either. Your comments brought me to my knees & thank you.

    By the way, I thought the target card brought me over there, but I believe it was God.

    Thanks again!

  14. Hi Karen,

    Your baby girl came home yesterday with a plethora of pictures of Renee’s precious baby girl. It was such fun for Kenzie to get to share in the joy of this new addition to the Swope family.

    She LOVES what you sent today…new stuff to wear…what every girl wants.

    She is SO excited to see you this weekend. Have a WONDERFUL and BLESSED reunion, sweet friend.

    Love,

    Wendy

  15. Your post made me cry! :-) I have a “baby” daughter too, just turned 19 in August so I can’t wait to read about your journey of emotions when your daughter left for school. Our one year journey since she left for college 10 hours away from home has been quite the story and I can only say the Lord has used it to grow me and change me in ways I had no idea I needed to change. I look forward to reading your blog more often. Thank you so much for being so real.

  16. I really enjoy your blog. I am a regular reader, but this is my first time to comment. I love reading the blog entries about your family. Your offer so much encouragement to all of us as we go about our daily routines. How wonderful it is that your daughter can be loved on by the P31 ladies. If she can’t be with you, they have to be the next best.

    Blesssings,
    Jennifer

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