Heaven on Earth

Edited to add:  For some reason, some of you may be unable to see the pictures in my posts.  I cannot for the life of me figure out what setting I have to change to see these.  However, you CAN see them through Google Reader.  If any of you tech savvy people know what the problem is, please EMAIL ME!

For any of you that know Jenna Grace you know she looks so much like Steve and/or Steve’s side of the family…Deanne, Micah etc. I’ve heard it all. She’s got so much of his personality too. She unfortunately got my height (so far), my impatience and some of my other not so desirable traits.

One of the things I always prayed she would get from me is my love of reading. I have said it before, but I believe the foundation of a good education begins with reading and reading well. Steve never liked school and I believe it was due in part, to the fact that he didn’t read as well which influenced everything school-related.

I am happy to report that she is a full-on LOVER OF BOOKS! On weeknights, we read before we go to bed. I usually pick a book that I think might be a little advanced for her (though she’s already reading on a 3rd grade level) and I will read to her. The first book we read was The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The second book we just finished was one of my favorites from my childhood. Anyone recognize it? Oh yes…it’s JUDY BLUME and the Hatcher Family.

I read almost every Judy Blume book published at the time and loved all of them. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was one of my favorites. I even owned a copy and saved it all these years hoping to pull it out one day with my child. And that day came. The book was old and the front cover ½ torn off. But definitely still readable. Oh, how much fun I had reading that book to JG. As if that wasn’t enough, guess what she brought home today??? Totally not knowing it was the same author or the sequel to TOAFGN, it’s…

This time, she doesn’t want me to read it to her…she is reading it to me! I mean. Are you kidding me? It’s really a little bit of heaven right here on earth. I can’t WAIT until tonight for bedtime. Seriously. This might be the most exciting part of my parenting journey. And as if that’s not enough, many weekend nights, she will beg, yes BEG, me to go lay in the bed together each reading our own books. Steve got a picture of us on his cell phone a few months ago and it almost brought tears to my eyes. A girl that not only loves reading like I do, but loves the same books that I did at her age. I can’t wait for the others to come… .

And to top it off? SHE LOVES TO SCRAPBOOK. Yes friends, it’s true. It’s not the level of scrapbooking that I do (not that I’m professional or anything), but she loves to use my rejected pictures and scrapbook stuff. She is a mini-me. She may not LOOK like me, but she loves the things I love. And it makes me happy to think when she is a teenager, she just might want to hang out with me and do those things. And that…well, THAT is a little bit of heaven.