Rachel's 1st grade Musical

Rachel always keeps us on our toes. If she does not want to do something, it is almost impossible to convince her to do it anyway. Once she makes up her mind, she does not budge easily. At least we know this...

Rachel had her First grade musical on Thursday evening. She got ready and seemed fine. Just before time to go, she started saying her tummy hurt and she didn't want to go. I told her she would be fine and we should put on some special pink lip gloss for her special day. She was very excited! On the way to the school, I grabbed a note pad from my purse and quickly jotted a note for our not so eager to perform daughter. I folded it in half and drew a horse on the front. As we got to the school, Rachel said she wasn't going. Finally, I convinced her to walk inside the auditorium and make our way to the gym to line up with her friends and her teacher. She had the best little friends. As we walked into the gym, they saw her crying and ran over to her and started stroking her arm and telling her that they were nervous sometimes too, but she would do fine. I thought this was so funny. God has definitely given these girls the gift of mercy. I told Rachel that if she went on stage with her friends that maybe she could have a special treat after the show. I handed her the special note I had written on the way to the school and told her to hold it in her hand and that when she felt really sad to look at it and read it. She smiled and clutched it in her hand. I showed her the horse and read her the note. She gave me about 50 kisses and finally walked away from me with her friends to line up. And so...

She got through the entire performance without a single tear, single smile, single word, single hand motion. Every once in a while, you'd see her look down and open her special note and then she would look up again. We said that if she made it through without throwing up on the boy in front of her, it was a success! (In the group shot, she is on the right side, second row down and the only one with her hands not up.)

When the performance was over, she smiled and was so excited. We took her to Wendy's and she enjoyed a chocolate frosty.