I touched her Heart, just by being her Mom

Katie and I shared a really sweet moment this week, and I want to share it with you. It was so special, that just thinking about it right now is putting tears in my eyes. I received a HUGE awakening into what my child needs most from me, and it came at quite an unexpected moment.

This weekend she was introduced to the whole idea of "playing card houses". She has seen a deck of playing cards before, and is just now starting to take an interest in learning different suits and learning how to play different games (she will learn "Kings in the Corner", as that was a major favorite game of her Great-Grandma Josephine!) But a couple days ago we started building a house out of playing cards and she absolutely LOVED it. It was the coolest thing she had ever seen! (It's just amazing to see your child learn something new and actually witness the sparkle in their eyes!)

Because she was so fascinated at how you could actually build a house out of the cards, I went online and looked for images of HUGE playing card houses, to show her examples of what people have actually made with cards. That amazed her even more! (Google images yourself, and you'll enjoy seeing some of them, too. Really . . . it can be a work of art, I swear!) After spending about a good amount of time looking at photos and images of card houses online, it was time to go to sleep. So, up to her room we went.

After the story was read and the covers were gently tucked around her, she said, "Mom, weren't those card houses amazing?" "Yes, they certainly were," I told her, "and you know what? YOU could build houses just as big as those we saw on the computer." "Oh, No Way, Mom. I could never build card houses as big as those. No way!" she said to me.

Well . . . . there was "no way" I was going to let her go to bed thinking that. I remembered that moment during the first day of school when I had so much I wanted to say to her (to refresh your memory and read my old post from that day, click here.) I wasn't going to let this opportunity get away from me again, so I took her face in my hands and looked directly into her eyes and said:

"Katie . . . . honey . . . . you could do absolutely ANYTHING in this world, honey. You can do anything that you put your mind to. Anything. It takes a lot of hard hard work - but if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. If you are a good student, if you listen to your teachers, if you are nice to people and treat them well, if you try hard and never give up - you can do ANYTHING. You could be a doctor, a teacher, an architect, a baker, an inventor, an artist, an actress, a musician, a PLAYING CARD HOUSE BUILDER . . . ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING. And, honey . . . . I BELIEVE IN YOU. I BELIEVE that you can do it. Do you understand, honey?"

With that sweet face resting in my hands and her big bright eyes looking up at me . . . she smiled and said, "Oh, Mommy. . . . you are talking so sweet to me. I'm going to cry, Mommy." And we hugged.

And with that, a connection . . . between a mother and a daughter.

I'm telling you. . . . I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again: Life doesn't get any better than this.