Growing Upward and Onward!

Time truly, truly flies. Thank God for very busy, very happy lives. (That explains my midnight rambling here :) Our three girls are growing up so fast, and we're feeling that (very) slightly bit older. The girls and I are nearing the end of "The Last Battle" by C.S. Lewis, and we will soon complete the Narnian Chronicles for the second time together at bedtime. What wonderful bedtime reading!! Tonight the children, Digory, Polly, and all those who have loved and served Aslan (including Emeth the Calormene) have witnessed the end of the Narnia they know, and have seen the real Narnia upon which the old Narnia was a mere copy, and we left off at the part where they all are running as quickly as Jewel the unicorn, "upward and onward" without ever feeling tired. Penelope said she knows how to describe things in a Narnian way, and gave this example: "It is like it's all darkness and then there's this bright light which then goes away, and the darkness seems darker than ever." I could see what she meant and that's precious to me! What's also heartening is that Paulina has grown in the course of this year to be such a voracious reader who has been seen often re-reading Narnian stories and other books on the sofa, and being able to love along with me and Penelope the excellence and punch of good ol' Puddleglum's speech to the Witch in "The Silver Chair"; a speech about how even if Aslan and the sun, as she says, are all figments of their own imagination, that's surely better than anything in her 'dull' world, and they wouldn't care about living a shorter life in such a world, for their beliefs. Philippa misses out on swarths of our Narnian stories as she's the first to fall asleep each night, but she's beginning to learn about Aslan and rough story lines in the Chronicles, and to like him too, and it is our prayer that she'll soon come to know Aslan by another name in our own world. She's also learning to--for the first time--really show a greater consciousness about and interest in words. Inspired by her big sisters who create their own comics and pictures almost every day (with greatly improved spelling and artwork from several months back), Philippa is also becoming quite a prolific writer and illustrator herself. One of her most recent was a collaboration with me, on a Seussian story book for a friend. She copied some pictures surprisingly well, taped the pages together one morning while I was still in bed and we came up with the story together based on her pictures. It was great fun.

Let's see if I can remember the short story:
A green tree and a bee,
a black mouse on a house.
A fox with a box,
Throws it high not low,
It falls into a puddle
Way down below.
Fox joins a race,
but does not win.
The winner is a Boobalace!
Boobalace to celebrate,
Got fox and mouse and bee.
They ate and ate and ate and ATE
Pizzas up on a tree!

(This book was for a 4 year old friend whose mom had invited us for a Christmas party this morning, a party which let guests make their own pizzas!)

There is so much to write about the girls but we need to rest, for more blessed work and play tomorrow, so I'll just stop here. May our experiences and memories be used of the Lord to make us more of the people He wants us to be. Praise God for so many good times and memories this year, and for helping us all on the upward way, new heights to gain every day... by His grace.