Luminous Ev

I seem to have stumbled on something with this idea of pulling my kids out of school for half a day so we can have some one-on-one time. I suppose this isn't a new concept to some people, but I'm discovering a world I hadn't expected and I really like it. I was always so concerned that they'd miss something important at school, or that the teacher would have to spend extra time helping them get what they missed. But to tell the truth, I don't care this year. My kids need some special treats, and this is what we're doing. It won't be often, but I'll make the most of the times we do it.

So today it was my Ev's turn to go out.

I wanted to listen to what she had to say today--really listen--because when she gets talking she always says things that open the eyes of my mind. She's always been highly verbal, and she has an imagination that has triggered ideas for me more often than I can count. When she was four, she created a giant in our neighborhood, the evil giant Chompchucks. Since then, other creations have risen to life from her brain, and interesting observations take flight. The other Sunday as we drove to church she noticed a bike hanging on the back of someone's car and commented on how it looked like the car had glasses. A little later on the same ride, she and her siblings were checking out the sun that was pushing out from the clouds. "It looks like the dark clouds are trying to eat the sun!" Ev said.

Surprisingly today Ev was not talkative. She was content, there was no question, but she wasn't bubbling with words. Today I saw the other side of Ev that I love: the luminous side. She can just be, and she glows with being-ness. We got stuck in some traffic and I took a wrong turn that made our trip take longer, and while she groaned about it a bit, she mostly just watched quietly out the window and listened to the music we had playing. "Everything okay?" I asked at one point. "What'cha thinking?" "I'm just looking at things," she said.

We headed to her favorite mall, the one that Jon and I had not gone to last week, with the open central court and fish. Ev loves to see the koi, so we spent all the time she wanted there.

And when she'd had enough of the fish we searched for a jewelry store we had seen a couple months ago when we were there. Unfortunately we didn't find it; things have shifted. But we did get back to a pet store she likes, and she took her time checking out the animals. Her favorite are the very affordable mice...affordable before you get the cage and the food and all the other things that one needs to keep a pet. Someday, maybe.... Of course, she also likes looking at the tarantulas, and today there was a fabulous macaw by the register, fluffing his crimson plumage and peering at Ev with one golden eye while she tried to get him to say "hola".

We finished up our outing with some frozen yogurt that definitely satisfied Ev's sweet tooth...and I liked mine, too.

Ev can be as silly as any kid, and she has a flair for drama that isn't pretty when she's upset. But there is a sweet, accepting spirit in her that I love to see. She wants to do what is right, to do what God would love, and it shines through her. She's more willing to take things as they are and enjoy them than my other kiddos. I asked her how school was going, and she said happily, "Great!" This in the midst of trying to navigate a new language. She's just happy because she has a friend at school who helps her with Spanish words and who likes to have Ev help her with English ones. When one has that, what else is needed?