Thanks, LoLo.

I've been meaning to post what Lose said at last week's family home evening. That girl can really be exasperating sometimes, but she also has the ability to be so wise. We were discussing the story of Jonah and the Whale. We looked at a picture depicting Jonah aftere he had been spit out on the shore and the whale was swimming off in the distance. We spoke as a family about how sometimes it seems easiest to run away from those things that seem hardest for us to do and that seem unconquerable. It was easy to draw the parallel between Jonah's experience and ours. Emotionally these girls are working hard to face what even some adults don't have to consider dealing with for years and years. It would be easy for them to hide their feelings and run from confronting all that Naki's death brings to their little lives. But they are courageous and strong women. The process isn't pretty or graceful, but instead gritty, honest, and raw. After the lesson I asked all the girls to tell me anything they'd learned from Jonah's story that they could apply to their own lives. They each had interesting things to share. But Lose's was so wise and poignant, I had to pass it along. She said,

"I learned, Mom, that magic isn't real. But miracles are."

Line and Malia loved it so much that a week later I found them writting 'themes', as they called them, for their new year, on a huge poster in their room. The very first theme was Lose's. Thanks, LoLo.