Birthday

     My sweet Mary Anna turned twelve on New Year's Eve!!  How did that happen? Seems like just yesterday she was wearing a princess dress and driving in her Barbie Jeep.  We had a slumber party with four of her friends from school on New Year's Eve.  Eleven and twelve year old girls are SILLY!! They were still laughing and giggling at 3:30 a.m.  This momma is too OLD to be up that late.  I felt like I had been hit by a mack truck the next morning!! They all had a great time and there seemed to be no girl drama so I call that a success. 
     The kids went back to school on Tuesday much to my dismay.  I love having them at home with me.  When I picked them up from school on Tuesday Mary Anna got in the car and informed me there is a middle school social this Saturday night.  She said she will need to wear make up or she won't look like the other girls!!!  UGH! I calmly told her she could maybe wear a little mascara and lip gloss but that was about it.  Samuel then joined in by informing me that I wear makeup so why shouldn't she?  Thanks for the support Samuel.  I told him Mary Anna was much prettier than me and didn't need makeup.  To which Mary Anna turned around and said that older women had to wear makeup to cover their wrinkles.  WOW!  My confidence was now in the toilet.
     So... last night my best friend, Anna, went with me and Mary Anna to the local mall to look for a dress for the dance.  When I say mall don't think Lenox Square or Perimeter, think small people very small, maybe at the most twenty stores.  The dress code states semi-formal.  Now to me this is fancy dress but not prom dress.  However, the teacher says not jeans but doesn't have to be a dress.  I need a bit more clarification.  Has anyone tried to find an "appropriate" dress for a twelve year old girl lately??? IMPOSSIBLE!!!  Talk about a frustrating and nearly tearful experience.  There is nothing out there that I would even dream about sending her out in public in.  Who in the world is making the decisions about the clothes these little girls have to choose from?  I would REALLY like to have a heart to heart with them.  It is truly ridiculous and sad, very sad, that this is what the fashion designers deem acceptable for young girls.  I spent hours online looking at junior dresses earlier in the week.  NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING!!! 
     After trying on dozens of dresses and skirts that were too short, too tight, too revealing, and just too ugly we decided on a short black furry jacket with a camisole underneath  to wear with her nearly too small black velvet pants. We also found a cute pair of black flats with some sparkly on the toe.  She is a nervous wreck about being the only one in pants.  I tried to reassure her that all the other girls would have an equally hard time finding suitable dresses also.  I also told her that she didn't want to look like all the rest of the girls but to stand out somewhat.  I promised her I would never send her out not looking her best. 
     When we got home I had to have a glass of wine!  It was that BAD!  Raising a confident, Godly young lady is so hard.  Every day is a new challenge and a new hoop to jump through.  I need prayers and lots of them.
     Pictures to come.