Wow...

Do you see what I mean about her growing up??

This was taken on the first day of 5th grade back at the end of August:

And this was taken this morning...the LAST day of 5th grade:

I don't know how much difference you see, but I see a baby in the first picture and a young lady in the second.

A 9-month school year...that's all it took.

Definitely gotta hold on to those babies for as long as possible.

They don't stay babies for long enough.

She's a big girl now...

My Cecilia.

The relationship between the two of us is a complicated one that no one (not even us at times) can truly understand or explain. I will refrain from trying to expand on the past too much or delve too deeply into the psychological ramifications of our complicated-ness. But one thing I will share is that from the time she was born, I knew she was something special.

Yeah, yeah...I know what you're thinking...all moms think their kid is special.
No, really, she was different.
Something about her and the way even complete strangers reacted to her told me that she was destined for more than the average Joe...or Jane in this case.

She and I have had our trying times over the years. Seriously trying.
There have literally been times where I was certain that one of us wasn't going to make it to see another day.
I was either going to die from irritation/stress/anger or I was going to strangle her.

Either she and I are completely opposite or we are exactly alike...I'm still not sure yet.
Sometimes I think it's some of both, if that's possible.
Whichever it is, it causes A LOT of heartache and even more laughter.

She is an amazing child.
And I don't give her enough credit.
But I do feel that in this day and age of feel-good parenting, it is my duty to keep her ego and attitude in check.
I am fed up with this generation of children who have no sense of what it means to be humble, grateful or considerate.
I figure that if I can instill those 3 things in her along with a strong faith in Jesus Christ, everything else will just fall into place.
So I make sure that she knows I'm aware of her capabilities, but that it's up to her to do the right thing with them.
Kind of reminds me of the Spider-man catchphrase "With great power comes great responsibility". =)

I have always been eager to see her move on to the next level.
I couldn't wait for her to talk, to walk, to go to kindergarten, etc.
I just knew that she would do great things and I wanted her to hurry up and get there.

But in 2 weeks her elementary years will be over and my daughter will be moving on to a new chapter in her life: junior high.

Scary.
Madness.
Growing up.

The biggest road bump in life is in her very near future.
In my mind, the next 6-8 years can and will determine the rest of her life.
The choices she makes, the friends she acquires, the projects she undertakes.
She can do it right or she can do it wrong.
I just pray that I have instilled enough good judgement in her that she does it right...or some variation of right.

So flippin' scary.

But it's all in God's hands.
I can't control her life.
I made a promise to raise her as a child of God at her baptism and I have to remember that she is HIS child even more than she is mine.

Worry is a sin.
I have to remember that.

I pray that I can remember that she IS amazing and all of this will be for something greater with God's help.

So let's move on to some of her wonderful achievements as of late.
We have spent a lot of time in the past couple of weeks attending her events.

The National Honor Society decided to add into its ranks the exceptional 3rd-5th graders.
Cecilia is now a charter member of the National Elementary Honor Society.
Qualification was based not only on their grades (average of 95 or higher for 2 previous semesters) but also on their participation in activities that allowed them to give back to their families, schools and communities.

It was really neat to see the kids read the oath, get pinned and sign the roll book showing that they are now charter members of the society.

Cecilia and Mrs. Ward, the principal

The 2010 charter chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society

The next event was her honor choir concert.

This was the 10 best choir members of each of the 8 elementary school in the district.

It was a wonderful concert and all of them did so well.

They were actually taught parts for the songs for a change. Much more advanced stuff.

Below is a shot of the entire choir. Her school is wearing the blue shirts to the far right.

Afterwards we attempted to get a few pics...Jude wasn't cooperating.

The last of recent events was her school's choir concert Tuesday night.

It was dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Tarver, the school's music teacher of 27 yrs who passed away from cancer in December.

The concert was one that she had arranged for a show a few years back and the new teacher thought it would be nice to use it this year. They even sang a song that was accompanied by a recording of Mrs. Tarver playing piano.

Here is Cecilia and her good friend Allison singing

After the concert they dedicated a windchime in Mrs. Tarver's memory so that there will always be music at the school even though she is gone. Her husband hung the chime.


Cecilia's Nana and Paw-Paw were sure to attend all of these events.

We are all so proud of her.

Next week she heads to Huntsville for the Regional Scrabble Tournament.

I'll post the results of that afterwards.

I won't be going with her, so let's pray for a safe trip for all.

So here's to my beautiful, wonderful, hilarious, talented baby.

Her first steps were amazing...but this next step is terrifying.

My Cecilia.