Proud Mommy Moment

I snuck up on Madison the other day while she was sitting in her favorite "reading spot." I never manage to take pictures of her without her seeing me and breaking into several of her favorite poses. This is a rare 'real' moment captured of her!

My little reader has always made me proud - but there's something about other people recognizing special traits in your children that really can swell your head and heart.

Inside Madison's backpack yesterday I discovered a few forms that I needed to fill out because she's been nominated by her teacher for the Gifted and Talented Program for next year! I couldn't be more thrilled! I mean.. seriously.. who doesn't want someone to say your child is "gifted and talented"? Especially when statistics show that she should be lagging behind all of the other kids in her class, and at best, she should be living with a grandparent because her slacker teen parents couldn't get it together. God is so good... I cannot believe where he's brought us!

Madison is such a sweet girl. Really. She has the biggest heart! Her goal in life is basically to save the world. She wants to have a huge CAT rescue (because we don't know anyone that helps with cats) and she also wants to adopt every child that needs a home. She's always asking how she can raise money for a cause, and  I've seen her give away her hard earned money to her friends so they could go on school trips, buy crafts for Mother's Day, and things of that nature. I'm not sure I'd have been able to be so generous at age 8! God is doing a great work in her heart already. I see him shine through her so clearly.. and she teaches me constantly what living a life for Christ really looks like.

The school may think she's gifted and talented because of her advanced 'school skills' and 'maturity', but I know that what makes her gifted and talented goes so far beyond these things. It's her love, her compassion, her generosity, her understanding of the world and how it works, and her intense desire to make right the wrongs. If she keeps on this path, she will no doubt change things. She will be a trail blazer. She won't settle for "that's just how the world works" and she won't be a "proper" woman that takes no for an answer when she knows what's right.

Baby girl, I do believe you can, and will, save the world, the orphans, and of course, the cats.