iPhone Friday part 2 - the Stacie Edition

I posted all the normal photos which were added to my phone in the past week, but there are many more that deserved their own category.

This is Stacie.

And this is Stacie.


And so is this.

Stacie was in my third grade class in Portland. I like to believe this was only a couple of years ago, but then she shows up being 16 and really ruins my delusions.

I remember Stacie very well as a 7 and 8 year old kid. I remember when she was missing teeth. I remember when her hair was braided. I remember how she loved read-aloud time, and often said the things about Jesus to her peers that I wished I could have said as their teacher. I remember that she brought her Bible to school for silent reading time. I even remember talking to her mom about what an impact I felt her little girl had for Christ in our public school. I think of that often, and am grateful that Charlotte is in public school, and pray her impact will be great.

Stacie's parents are fantastic people. They are generous, kind, godly people who truly care for others. When Stacie left my classroom, her mom made it so easy to stay in touch with their family. I continued to go to Stacie's basketball games, softball games. It was her mom who started the idea of Tweener Day, the day between Stacie's birthday and mine. We began celebrating it when she was in 4th grade. The first year we went to Krispy Kreme together. Mmmm, Krispy Kreme.

Sorry. Pregnant distraction. Pregnant pause?

When Caleb died, Stacie's parents allowed her to be part of things, like his service, and that Tweener Day we made book ends for Caleb's library. When we returned from Miami and were flat broke, Tom and Susan hosted a garage sale to help us out. When Charlotte came along, Susan and Stacie were the only people in Portland to watch her. Even if they tattooed her with Beavers tattoos. But that's another story. Bottom line, we've been in each other's lives for a while. I feel extremely blessed to still be part of Stacie's life, that she would still want me around (even if I still nag her about her grammar, finishing her homework, and other teacher things).

This summer we wanted to go to Portland. We are really, really missing it. There was a good deal on flights for a brief window, but even still, 4 tickets is just plain expensive. And driving wasn't in the cards this summer. So we decided that we could afford one plane ticket, and that we really wanted to see Stacie, so we flew her out this past weekend, partly to have a little help with Charlotte's birthday party, but mostly because we wanted to hang out with her.

This is me picking her up in Sacramento. I look tired. I was. And am, actually. Have I mentioned that I'm really pregnant? But Stacie is beautiful as always, and taller every time. Aaron's comment when I texted him this picture was, "She's about 2 feet taller than you." Maybe not two feet, but she's tall. And I'm short.

We all love Stacie. Aaron has seen her grow up, too, and he genuinely loves her as well. And now she's watching my kids grow. Isn't it weird how that happens? Stacie has a natural way with kids. She's like the pied piper. Thanks to her mom, Stacie has always been around little kids, and she is great with them. My kids adore her. When Aaron tucked Charlotte in on Monday night, the first night Stacie was gone, the first thing she said was, "I miss Stacie."

Stacie was a big help at the party. I didn't have to ask her to do a thing, she just jumped in and helped with the kids. And with setting up everything.

There was no way I would have been doing this!

After the party I forced Stacie to go get a pedicure with me. Well, I didn't really have to force her, but she's not the super-girly-girl type, so she probably would have picked something else. But look how cute her blue toes are in her blue flip-flops. Please ignore the pink piggies next to her.

We did a lot of the everyday stuff, like cooking, entertaining kids, going swimming, running errands, getting everyone ready for bed. Nothing too exciting. But Sunday night Stacie said, "How do you do this every day?" Seriously, best compliment ever.

We also did lots of silly things, which is why my phone is now full of pictures like these:




And this one is for her mom - see, I did make her do her homework and she wasn't thrilled about it.

It's good to have a teenager around every once in a while. I suppose at some point they stay longer, but that'll be a while for us.

On Monday we had to give her back :( God has such big plans for this young woman. I am excited to see them develop. I hope I will still have the privilege of a front-row seat.