real beauty

Lately I've been obsessed with  spending a lot of time reading nieniedialouges.  I think it's because, well obviously, she is amazing and also because I needed to draw from her story and strength.  Stephanie Nielson has faced some of the worst kinds of pain and scars and still her beauty shines through because she radiates love and hope and strength.

I have a beautiful 12 year old girl.  My sweet Savannah.  That's what I said immediately after she was born and the nurse laid her on  my chest.  It was love at first sight.  A love so big I didn't know I could feel that much.

So this August my sweetest oldest was bitten by a dog.  I said lots of bad words before I realized there were children present and then rushed her to the ER.

She received a beautiful blessing from her Grandfather while in the ER waiting to be stitched up.  She "felt the Spirit stronger than she had her whole life", she said.

So here we are a few months later and every night I hug her and kiss her on the cheek, tell her she has the softest cheeks in the whole world, she tells me that she knows that because I tell her that every night and then I tell her she is the most important thing in the whole world to me.

  YTMITITWTM

We tell all our kids that every night before bed (and when they leave for school and just about every time we part).  Lately, at bed time, when I tell her that she is beautiful she shakes her head no and quickly points to the scar on and above her lip.

 Breaks my heart.

Breaks it right in two.

In that moment I don't know exactly how to handle it. Do I tell her how beautiful I think she is?  Do I tell her how lucky she is that it wasn't worse?  Do I sympathize with her?  Do I tell her that the scar will fade and that soon it will be hardly even recognizable?  Do I tell her that scars do not make us ugly--or at the very least un-beautiful?  Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes . And Yes. But because it's coming from just mommy, I don't think it has much weight even though I point out the scars on my face. (Maybe I should point out my weight and that would have more weight...) (ha)

So I brought up Nie Nie on the computer and showed her.  Savannah is not unfamiliar with Nie Nie or her story.  I've followed her for a long time now.  But maybe she needed a reminder.  So I showed her again.

I think it helped.

I hope it helped.

"It's a beautiful heart, not a perfect body, that leads to a beautiful life."

 

I want her and all girls--all people to understand that beauty comes from the inside.  It comes from being loving and kind.  It comes from being virtuous.  It comes from radiating the love and light of Christ.

When you have that light, it outshines any scar or mole or extra poundage that the world would have us think is the antithesis of beauty.

Beauty comes from within.

And you, my sweet Savannah are BEEEAU-TI-FUL!!!