olive| You found a turtle in our backyard this week and named him Wonder Kay Douglass. Wonder–for the way you said he must think about the world, and Kay after your middle name. You asked us to keep him, and we said yes. The following day you set Wonder on a rock while you cleaned out and rearranged his new habitat. I found you crying, searching the grass for him. I gave you the biggest hug and reminded you how much Wonder liked to wonder and wander through the great big world. And then we went inside, washed our hands, and made cookies.
blythe | I find you reading most anything these days from my text messages to magazines to books. This week, you called me into your room to hear something you had written. It was a page and half of your thoughts beginning with “Dear Diary.” I hope you read your diary entries to me for a long while.
burke | You lost another tooth this week, and I can hardly believe you’re only a few teeth shy of your adulthood mouth. Then again, it will be a while before your body catches up with your old soul. Every morning you and your siblings spread the newspaper out across the porch, primarily searching for the comics. You told us today that the comics should be on the front page.
liam | You look so much older in this image. Some days I can see time in your face, the boyishness becoming man. You read more books than I can count this week, mostly anything you could find by Rick Riordan. Your heart craves adventure.
olive | you are so expressive, shaping your eyes in a way that communicates a gamut of emotion. I love this about you.
blythe | You’re testing for a new level of ballet this month, and as you’ve taken specific classes to prepare, you told your dad and I both you prefer these classes to your usual. “I like the challenge of it,” you say, which doesn’t surprise me a bit.
burke | We’ve been walking through hard things together in our dynamic together, things I don’t want to detail here, but that I want to note. I reminded both of us this week, God is the perfect designer. He creates us and knows us and puts us into families. Burke, I’m grateful God put us in the same family, even when it’s difficult.
liam | We’ve been more removed from formally organized events and groups this year for several reasons, something that’s been very difficult for your more extroverted nature. While I know this is only for a season of time, it’s still difficult to watch you go through hard things. I know one day you’ll understand, but for now I hope this season builds a chest full of courage and hope within you, a willingness to move forward even when life is tough.
Comments
I just discovered your blog and it is lovely. Then after reading through some of your posts I also discovered your daughter is called Olive Kay. My daughter has the same first and middle name. Olive after her great grandmother and Kay after her grandma. Very lovely name I must say :)
How funny! Kay is also from her grandmother who passed away before Olive’s birth. Well, welcome here and thank you for sharing.