Girl Power

Matalley and I enjoyed a girl power event the middle of October in which we met a woman (Ginger Kerrick) who wanted to be an astronaut and ended up as NASA's Flight Director. Her story was inspirational and it was a fun date night for Matalley and me. The most fun part was that Matalley won the very last doorprize...a bike! She was so close to winning many others and was shocked to win the biggest prize of all.

I am already looking forward to next year's event but in the meantime, I am going to work on making sure Matalley knows how much she is loved and appreciated for who she is. Already, she is criticizing how smart she it and how pretty she is and she is only 9. It just makes me sad that these thoughts even occur to her at 9 years old. I'm grateful to have others building her up and helping me in this journey. Her sweet children's minister from church came to watch a volleyball game on a Friday night and Bobo and Pops were there for that one too. She had a great cheering section.

Ginger said that even in her darkest moments (she missed becoming an astronaut because of a kidney stone that showed up in an xray even though it hadn't caused her any trouble and she had passed all the other more strenuous tests), she had the support of family and friends to keep her going. I hope Matalley never forgets how many people are in her corner.