My awesome Giveaway win & a note on parenthood

I've mentioned this before, and most importantly to my sweetheart just before Christmas & my upcoming birthday....I'm in the Angela Henrie Designs fan club.  Her sister, Amy used to live near us and taught Christina piano for some time.  Amy and her daughter would sport the coolest necklaces made by her sister, Angela.  I missed Amy's jewelry party and then she moved west.  To my delight, I caught up with Amy via the blog world, and was excited to see that her sister, Angela started a blog including her jewelry for sale.  If you have something special in mind, she's mentioned doing custom work.

If you've read Angela's blog, you know this mom of 8 not only makes unique jewelry, but she also has fun decorating ideas, and every now and then a gorgeous giveaway.  Just before Christmas, Angela had a giveaway for a necklace from her "mini" line of jewelry.  I put my name in the mix and had to pinch myself when I found I won!!!  I never win!  What a win!  The necklace arrived and I fully admit trying it on to see if it was for sure a mini, and if so, could I pass as a mini model?...ha!  Nope.  This baby was made for one of my "mini"s., so I wrapped it up and put it on the Christmas tree for my sweet Nina to open on Christmas day.  She's not so mini anymore, as she's on the brink of teen years, but when she opened her gift and put it immediately on, it fit nicely, and she hasn't taken it off since.

Just the other day I felt the need to have a heart-to-heart with Christina. I felt that she needed to hear again why so much is asked of her compared to her siblings, and that the weight of responsibility will pass to the next in line when she leaves for college, and so on.  She needed to hear that I was once her age and that I remember how hard it was to find confidence and self-worth.  She needed to hear that we are all a work in progress; that her strength might be her brother's weakness, and vice-versa.  We are equals in that sense, and should be each other's best support.  I told her that I can be tough because some things like name calling are not acceptable in our family and in our home.  I told her that I can be tough because I love her deeply and I have loved her every day since the day she was born....."and I hope that necklace around your neck is a constant reminder that I love you every day, more than you know."

It's a gorgeous necklace now worn by my beautiful daughter who introduced me to the love of motherhood, even when a heart-to-heart is called for following the difficult task of disciplining.  I really couldn't have asked for a better start to motherhood, and I have a hard time watching time fly by with her and the rest of my mini's.

Proof that she even sleeps in her necklace....here Nina is last Saturday morning when the YW leaders came and "kidnapped her for a YW breakfast. Her leader has an embroidery gadget on her sewing machine and she embroidered a small "YW" & design on sweatshirts for the girls. Each girl was described using a YW value and they visited and played a mixer game. It was really nice. I tagged along because I have to say being kidnapped for breakfast (on my birthday) was one of my favorite YW memories...silly, I know!