Can I Just Stop Time?

See this precious baby?  I love her so much.

Of course, she grew quickly.

She was my first homeschool child, even though there were four older sisters.  She was the one I went out on a limb to see if I could do this homeschool thing.  She was my Guinea pig, poor girl.

No matter how many pictures I snapped, she just kept growing up.  I regret not one picture.  

We are in our eighth year of homeschooling.  The years went by so quickly, and I am so happy I got to spend so much time with this child.

It seems like she went from tomboy to young lady so quickly.  She was skateboarding one week and trying out makeup the next.  

I woke up one day, and my baby was a teenager.  She was so tall and witty and loyal to her friends.  She began to astound me with her unique personality.  Her talent in art and writing truly began to surface.

And now she will turn sweet sixteen in weeks.  She is talking of getting her first job (that isn't babysitting) and planning to learn to drive.  Where did the years go?

 

Two daughters have left the nest, went off to college, and got married.  They have careers and want to have families soon. One daughter is posed on the brink of blazing her own trail.  She graduates this Spring and is planning to kick off adulthood with mission work.

 

Left home are my baby, age 8, and my Laura, my growing up too fast girl.  I hope she realizes how loved she is and how proud of her I am.  I hope she lives by Psalm 61:2, her life verse, and leans on the Rock that is higher.  I pray she is blessed with peace and joy.

All the times I question whether homeschooling is working or whether I made the right choice all those years ago, I only need to think of my Laura. We spent so many hours together, learning about the world.  We struggled with some subjects, but she is doing so amazingly well now that you could never tell it.  I think about the fact that I only have two years left with her before she graduates, and I can't believe it went so quickly! 

She is a joy in my heart.  If I could stop time, just for a bit, to keep her my little girl, I would.