About: Beckie Stewart
- Website
- http://godsgraciousgems.blogspot.com
- Bio
- Some other bio information on me includes that I am a mother of 5, the first 4 that range in the age of 14 to 21, and then our 3 year old from Kazakhstan. I serve on the Board of “Our Creators Hope”, a ministry that raises funds to help couples adopting domestically as well as internationally.
Author's Posts
The Cheerful Giver
May 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment
It was another typical Sunday morning for Miss Debbie as she came to teach her toddler class at church. She had an established routine, and the children knew what to expect each week and so did Miss Debbie. However, in dealing with this age group, a child will occasionally do something out of the ordinary, and a valuable lesson is instilled in the lives touched by that occurrence.
“Does anyone have money to share today,” Miss Debbie asked her little ones.
”I do,” a few answered.
“No,” several others responded with a pout, my daughter being one of them.
Wanting her students to learn the concept of tithing, Miss Debbie reached into her purse. She handed a few coins to the children who had forgotten. She then proceeded to collect the money and found the children cheerfully willing to surrender the pennies, dimes and nickels that she had just given to them. Miss Debbie was pleased to see how quickly they had learned the lesson on giving.
The following week, Miss Debbie once again asked her young students if they had money to offer. Like the week before, she found that some had money and others didn’t. Before Miss Debbie knew what was happening, my two-year-old daughter, Lana, had sprung to her feet. She grabbed Miss Debbie’s purse, pulled out her checkbook, and brought it to her.
Taken back by Lana’s actions, she said, “Lana, please put that back in my purse.” Lana instantly complied with the request and placed it back into the purse.
However, determined to share money, Lana continued to dig into Miss Debbie’s purse. Unaware of what she was doing, Miss Debbie suddenly heard jingling behind her. She turned and found Lana holding her change purse and handing out coins. Miss Debbie realized the lesson on being a cheerful giver was being taught to her today. She allowed Lana to give the remaining coins to her little friends. Later, Miss Debbie wrote a check and placed it into the offering plate with a smile.
Scrabble Lessons
May 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’ve always been a little competitive in the academic field. Since I am not athletic, I thrive on competition regarding my mind and my own will power to accomplish it. No, I am not a good team player. Nothing frustrates me more than believing I can win, and losing because of the mistake of others. As long as I lose due to my own mistakes or sheer knowledge of someone doing something better than me, I am okay.
So as an only child of a single father, I enjoyed many weekends playing board games with him. He never let me win and so when I did, I knew I had truly accomplished that victory. I will never forget the valuable lesson learned during a competitive game of Scrabble.
This particular game began with a bang for me. I selected the letter closest to “a”, and so had gained the advantage of placing the first word down. With my letters I formed the word “greedy” strategically placing the “y” on the double letter score. Because it was the first word of the game, my score doubled because it covered the pink star in the center of the board.
“Wow, thirty points, ” my father told me. “That is a great start.”
My father looked the board over carefully and played the word “draft” and received eighteen points for his word. No matter how well I did or did not play a word on each turn, I always remained at least five to ten points ahead of my father.
“I am ruling this game,” I thought to myself as we were finally nearing the end. With only a few more letters to play, this game would be over and the win would be mine.
“There it is,” I suddenly said to myself. With four letters remaining I placed an “r” in the spot that formed two words and gave me twenty more points.
“I believe you misspelled that word,” my father challenged. We pulled out the dictionary, and indeed my father was correct. I removed my letter and lost my turn. With one sweeping blow, my father used his last three letters and I subtracted four points from my score. With my spelling error and my father’s last word, I lost the game by two points. I should have known that first word was warning me about the traps of life.
The Spring After Winter
May 8, 2008 | 1 Comment
The ice on the lake begins to thin and creaks and finally cracks. Spring follows winter and is all about new beginnings. It’s always been my favorite season, but it took on a whole new meaning when I adopted my little girl from Kazakhstan. I brought her home during one of the coldest winters in fifty years in her country. The land had been covered with a thick blanket of white. The temperatures were frigid enough to cause icicles to form off the breathe of the animals abandoned outside. If not properly covered, frostbite would grab a hold of exposed skin within five minutes.
As cold as Kazakhstan was, so was the heart of my little nine-month-old daughter. The first sign of this appeared just days before she was officially declared my daughter when she slammed her head into my chest. She was not feeling well and was tired, but did not wish to be cuddled and encouraged to sleep. Within the first six weeks home, I received two black eyes from thrown toys and scratches upon my face and neck.
I was determined to help my little girl bond and work through her pent up emotions. I had received many ideas from my adoption agency as well as books I had read prior to her adoption. I was glad I did, because I had not faced these issues with my older children who I gave birth to.
Even though she was nine months old, the orphanage still had her on a bottle. Because their bottles were glass, they did not allow the babies to hold their own bottles. So, for the first nine months home, I kept my daughter on a bottle and did not allow her to hold it for the first three months. I held her like a nursing infant and fed the bottle to her. Due to low iron count, I also kept her on formula for the first six months. It was difficult being criticized by other moms, but I felt she needed what was not received the first nine months of her life from me.
Something I also did to encourage touch and bonding was to give her a bath every night. Our bath routine always involved massaging her with lavender lotion. I always took extra time rubbing the lotion on her hands and feet. It was wonderful watching her relax. I believe this time also encouraged her sleep time. She slept twelve hours each night and took two naps each day the first three months home. I was told she was sleeping to block out the new life she did not understand. I believe this was true, but it became a restful sleep for her instead of a restless sleep like those first ten days.
For that first year, my daughter’s heart remained as hard as a lake in winter. However, the evidence of spring has been emerging during this second year into our family. Unless she is being told “no”, she is filled with laughter and joy. “Smile, mommy.” She will remind me so many times in a day. She greets all she sees with a smile and “I’m free.” A day does not go by when you will not hear a spontaneous, “I love you.” What fun it has been to watch this shy timid infant blossom into a happy, carefree toddler!