Daughters
25 years ago today....the heavens shook....the wind swirled...and Amy Elizabeth Beard was born. She was awesome cute....fat cheeks...her cheeks were so fat they caused her eyes to squish all up. She was happy all the time...and she was the most mischievious child I had ever met. I am sure this is because I did not know her dad as a child. Amy was the middle of three girls...Ashley first...Amy...and then my Becca. We have lived more life since the entrance of our daughters than I can post in a blog...we have laughed our heads off at their antics..cried with them over hurts...and waited at bedsides for doctors reports. We have played...worked and worshipped together...we have crashed...burned and shared amazing victory together. Together has been our motto...if we had a family crest it would contain 4 Beard women grinning and 1 Beard man looking harrassed as he keeps watch..always together. But recently that has changed. My beautiful Amy will hear her first happy birthday this year in her own home from her new husband. She married in July...wonderful man who loves Jesus and is crazy bout my Amy...all good. Well I have just recently decided that I am going to survive this great betrayal of my sweet daughter...leaving her momma after years of devotion..my word...where would she get a notion like that. She has insisted on leaving and cleaving too..what in tarnation? But with a kick in the seat from my precious Savior and some very pointed looks from my husband...I have graciously allowed my new son to live...and to love my daughter with minimal interference from me....whew...survived that...checking my armor...all in place...still believing...still receiving from Jesus... What a great giver of daughters I am...moving on...then just recently here comes my Becca....Becca is our baby...not yet 21...she is amazing...stubborn...fiercely loyal (in fact she is fierce period) ...a sold out radical Jesus freak....and she is fairly certain that her daddy wears a super hero costume under his clothes. So...here she comes to me...her devoted momma of 20 years and she is talking about the possibility of overseas missions. We spoke with a missionary tonight and her dad about her experience. As I hung the phone up...I heard my head screaming in eight different directions...joy...pride...sorrow...grief...fear...how to process it all...so I called her daddy...he can fix it...after all he's been fixing her broken stuff for years...I waited for him to say she is not going ...it is not safe...she is not ready...what he said was..."momma...we have to trust God...he will get her through and us too." What good advice...very Biblical...ARE YOU KIDDING ME CLIFF....THIS IS MY DAUGHTER AND I WILL NOT GIVE HER UP! Well, I have been reminded again tonight that they are not mine....Amy has followed God's path...it led her from us...Becca is praying about a direction that will lead her from us.