My Daughter the Builder

Would like to hear about my daughter for a change? I know that she is rarely the subject of a complete blog post but since she just turned 25 years old recently I have been thinking how she is an example of how we never know where our children will end up in life.

Amanda is my oldest child and my only daughter.(You all know here from her blog Hearts and Trees and her kits.) She has always been about pink and purple, hearts and flowers. She is a naturally creative girl and actually inspired many of my passions...the ones I had to learn about to make sure she was getting the skills she craved. Sewing, drawing, scrapbooking, photography, painting, a love for things Hawaiian, peacocks, bread making, quilting, cookie baking, beading....the list of things she introduced or reintroduced to our lives is really long. She is a flute player, an expert fit ball user, graphic designer, literature loving, creative person. She dresses with a flair and even at 6 feet tall she wears high heels.

So when she told us a year ago that she wanted to start working with volunteer construction as part of her Christian ministry, we were a little surprised. She has always helped her dad around the house on his various projects but she is now talking about learning trades like concrete finishing, dry wall installation, and learning to lay pavers.  So, with the usual Amanda conviction and determination, she has set out to learn all she can in the construction field. She gets dirty and sore but she is happy.

I also might mention that she has learned fluent Spanish in the past three years. Self-education is an amazing thing when you see it in action.....she had motivation at this point in her life and uses it as part of her ministry. 

The lesson we have learned by watching this young woman is that the 20's can indeed be a time of growing, a time of becoming someone that is useful to God and family. She is an example of someone who has found meaning and contentment in remaining single when everyone else around her is getting married. She has shown us that there is so much more learning and growing to do after high school and we don't need to cram it all into a few years during the teen years.

Proud to be her mom....or as she calls me....Little Mama.