Her Hand in Mine

Jacie has been a busy, busy girl. It is amazing to watch her flit from thing to thing like a 'normal' 11 year old girl. It would be impossible for an outsider to recognize that she has only been stateside for 3 years. Even I find it hard to believe and I have been by her side this whole journey.

We had a great fair. For those of you who do not know us- our family is very involved in 4-H which fills our summers with activities and culminates in that one week. It is crazy, hard and a lot of work. Yet, we love it. Jacie loves it. She showed two different horses, three goats, one chicken and three rabbits. That's a lot of showing. She is quite the showman though and cannot imagine giving up any of those animals next year. She also got very good news. It seems that when she competed for the horse royal court back in July, she was elected reserve princess. The results are not made public until the awards program at the end of fair so for two straight months, she was on pins and needles to find out if she won. She did! Essentially, she got 2nd place in the competition which entailed an interview, written test and a performance with your horse. Amazing really! She is thrilled. She walks around saying, "Princess coming...make way. Make way for the princess."

The day after fair, she had her 6th surgery since coming to America. She was very disappointed to have to have another one. The morning of the surgery she said, "Ma, I am going to run away so you can't find me and take me to the hospital."

That made my heart break. Of course, I didn't tell her. My response was something like, "Oh, shoot. I'll miss you but if you have to go..."

It is difficult to deal with the emotional part of having that many surgeries. My nurture side wants to feel sorry for her but my wiser side pushes me to help her deal without the pity. I know that will be of value to her for the rest of her life but sometimes it is hard to remember.

I continue to step out of where I am and look in amazement at this little girl that God has placed into my life. I am blessed everyday to live life with her hand in mine.

~Camo Pants