Proud Lolli...

I love being a grandmother! It's so much fun being "young" again, seeing things from the eyes of a child, playing like a child with a child! I love the innocence in their questions, the wonder in discovery of something new, the curious spirit that makes them question...and I love watching them learning life lessons, like how to trust people, how to never give up when fear of the unknown grips them, and how to gradually become independent young people on the journey toward adulthood. My eldest granddaughter, Carleigh, loves to swim; yet, not without her water wings on. She will go all over the pool, she will jump to people, and she will even lie back to float...as long as she has her "floaties" on. For some time she has wanted to jump off the diving board to someone catching her; yet when it comes right down to her standing on the edge of the board and looking below to that someone, she cannot make herself do it. Last week I caught her twice and both times it jarred me silly!

Yesterday my sister and I tried to help her understand that the water was the same all over the pool; that I would be down there close to help if needed. She climbed up on the board, walked to the end, tried to pretend she was not afraid...yet, she could not do it. Meanwhile I was treading water and getting very tired! We continued talking to her, trying to build her confidence in herself and her trust in me to help her, if needed. Isn't that just like us~ we want to trust God, we know He will never lie to us, we want to step out in faith even though we cannot see the end result...we prepare to take the plunge, and we back out! Our faith waxes and wanes, over and over...and over again. When--and IF--we finally make the deliberate choice to take Him at His word, trust Him fully, and step out in total faith, we find He is there to carry us, to pick us up if we fall, and to love us through it all.

So I began asking Carleigh to jump off the side of the pool to me, and each time I would move further toward the diving board. Eventually we were fully in the deep end. Yet, the height of that diving board frightened her. After some more talking and encouraging, I counted to 3 and--SHE JUMPED! I was close by, but did not ever even have skin-to-skin contact with her! She came up out of that water grinning like a Cheshire Cat and could not wait to call her Momma to tell her. The next time I held onto one side and had her jump from the board toward me, so I would not have to tread water. At first she was afraid of that; yet she did it, and wanted to do it "again, Lolli!" Then we crossed to the other side and repeated the sequence. I promised her that, if she was successful in going off the diving board, I would blog about it, so lots of people would know. She told her Momma on the phone: "Momma, I'm going to be on the internet!"

So, here's to you, Boo! Lolli,Pop, Didi, Momma and Daddy and the rest of our family are so proud of you! You are a big 5-year old beautiful young lady, who is such a big swimmer now! Thank-you for trusting Lolli to take care of you if something happened, and know that I will always be here for you--ALWAYS!

I love you...and Mommy, Daddy, Macie, Izzy and her 8 puppies!

Lolli