She's stepping out!

So proud of our Lily bean she's finally stepping out.  She has always loved to sing and yet she has refused to join the chorus because she has been afraid of performing.  However, on her own, she decided to sign up for the 6th-grade chorus!  Yay, Lily.  She also joined a flute choir that her flute teacher leads and is enjoying it!

She also just finished another swim season with the YMCA.  I think she enjoyed it and made some new friends. She wants to play soccer again, so that will start shortly.

She continues to do well in school and gets wonderful compliments from her teacher regarding her character.  Her teacher states, "Lily displays a great deal of responsibility in both the care of her belongings and in maintaining the classroom and its materials.  This care and sense of responsibility transfer directly to her attention to detail in the presentation of her work.  Lily is a leader in the classroom, consistently making good choices in all parts of the day.  Her kind, caring, and friendly character makes her a role model for her classmates.  Her trustworthiness and cheery demeanor have made her a friend to many.  She is respectful of others and uses common sense to problem solve independently and in a positive manner."   Needless to say, we are super proud!!!!!!

She also appears to be developing her own personal faith in Jesus which brings me so much joy!  After a short respite from the youth group she has returned to their Wednesday night meetings and has been memorizing scripture, even asked to download a bible app on her cell phone!  She is currently doing this challenge which is supposed to help her get in touch with the experience of people in poverty.  She has slept on the hard floor for over 1 week and even took a cold shower!  

It's all about her hair!

Lily has always had beautiful tresses and has taken loving care of them, but now with her pre-teeness hair preening has taken on a new level!  Look at these beautiful locks today!  I think these were done with either soccer socks or braids or both!

Pre-teen milestone

Well, for Christmas Lily received the gift she so desperately wanted but didn't think she would receive.  Thanks to our friend Chris Henry and her Daddy, we decided it was time for her to get her own cell phone.  She was super surprised and super excited!

The look of surprise!

We adore Lily's teacher

Lily has been blessed with some amazing teachers over the years.  Ms. Mosquera (aka Ms. Hill) has been no exception!  Today she sent Lily this card in the "real mail" addressed to her personally.   My favorite lines are "Lily, I feel so lucky to be your teacher.  I love watching you each day, gracefully going about your day, respecting everyone and everyone around you. I've learned a lot by watching you!  I know you will continue to soar over the years.  I can't wait to see what you become and how you give to the world!"

Needless to say, this Mama is speechless!

Sassy and Smart

I have a new nickname for Lily Bean...."Octopus"  The reason for this nickname is that this child has no sense of personal space when it comes to her mama.  She is all over me all the time.  I am sitting on the couch with lots of space for her to sit, but she must sit right on top of me always!  Lily has been a little sassy and spicy lately.  We have to remind ourselves to take a deep breath and pray that "this too shall pass"  I guess it's a good thing she is asserting her independence, but man, sometimes.....

Lily is really a bright young lady.  She is a good problem solver and knows all kinds of do-it-yourself hacks!  For example, we were setting up the Christmas tree yesterday and I couldn't get the angel on the tree because of the new lighting we purchased.  I tried one strategy but it didn't work.  Lily took one look at the angel and made a suggestion for how we could solve the problem and wa-la problem solved.  The other day I was trying to sew using the sewing machine and she totally schooled me!  She also appears to be quite responsible at school for her schoolwork.  We are really blessed!

Yesterday after Olav and I set up the tree and I put on the lights, Lily went on to decorate the entire tree herself.  She did an amazing job as shown below!

Proud Moments

I was so proud of Lily today! About 2 weeks ago she swam her first swim meet for her new swim team YMCA. She had a really good meet!

She came in 2nd place overall for Girls 11-12 100 M Freestyle and she won the Princess Patch for her character.

The email from the coach said this:

This meets Princess is awarded to Lily Gjerde for believing in herself. Lily tried her first 200 IM. Lily listened to her coach and did a legal back turn which they had been working on the day before the Virtual Meet. Even though she DQ’d we are proud of how hard she tried.


While I was ecstatic about her achievements, she was most proud of her classmates commenting that she was the best singer in their group! I don't know why she doesn't sign up to do chorus at school!

Trick or Treat and A heart for the homeless

This girl never ever takes a bad photograph.  Here are just a few snap shots from Halloween 2017.  She was a kitty cat.

In other news, Lily has really developed a heart for the homeless she sees on the local street corners in Frederick.  She has kept asking me what we can do.  So she has inspired us to make some Blessing bags that include some basics to hand out.  Gosh, I love this girl's heart!