Awana Awards and My Little Talker

First of all, let me start this off by saying THE MARINERS BEAT THE YANKEES!!!!! Now that that is out of my system. . . Wednesday night we had the Awana Awards Ceremony. It was great fun. Normally, Rylie and I don't go to Awana (she isn't old enough and it's past her bedtime anyway), but we came to support our little Abby! (And of course all of the other clubbers!) Now, Abby, technically is not supposed to be in Awana. The Cubbies start at four years old and she is only 2 1/2. But, since Pam is a Cubbies leader, she got to join. She has memorized almost all of the verses, done her book work and even did the extra credit project - memorize The Lord's Prayer! Only her and another (4 year old) boy memorized this (I don't even have it memorized)! I am so proud of her. She loved Cubbies and wore her vest with pride. She was so ecstatic each time she got a new patch on it. I'm also proud of Pam for teaching her all of that! Congratulations to our friend, Amy who got Clubber of The Year for Sparks! She memorized over 50 verses! Some of the older kids have memorized over 1,ooo verses since they have been in Awana! That is just incredible! The other little boy in the pictures is Amy's brother, Clayton. He suffered a black eye when he tripped and fell into the table, but if you ask him about it, he says, "you should see the other guy"! He is one of Rylie's best friends (even though her Daddy doesn't want her talking to boys). Then, of course there is a picture of the Lukeman and my beautiful daughter. Isn't this picture of her so pretty?

I know I've said it before, but I love how much she's talking lately. The other day when I put her in the shopping cart she told me "put my seat belt on for safety". For safety? She cracks me up. When we went out to dinner the other night (to celebrate her cousin, Bryan's winning the Kiwanas terrific kid award!) she asked the waitress for a to go box and then proceeded to put all of her food in it and shut it all on her own! She's been having some nightmares lately and thinking there are monsters , animals, real lions, and sharks in her room. I've been praying with her and I was telling her that Jesus is always with her and that she can talk to Him whenever she's scared. She said, "Jesus came back home with us?" (we had just returned from church!). This is just a fraction of the things she comes up with. She's a pretty funny girl!