Wedding Dress

It has certainly been a spring-cleaning year.  During this deep clean, I came across my wedding dress.  I’ve seen pictures of little girls wearing their mama’s wedding dress for a fun photo shoot, so I asked Silje if she wanted to try it on and I’d take some pictures.

I must have waited too long to do this, because when I looked through my camera, I didn’t see a cute little girl wearing her mama’s dress.  I saw a young lady wearing a dress a tad too big, and my breath just caught.  Fast forward 10 years and she’ll be at the same age I was when I first tried on this dress.  Even then, people said we were crazy young.

She was smiling wide the whole time.  She’s at the age where right now we’re seeing more eye rolling than big smiles these days.  It was fun to see the smiles.

I love that Silje gets to dream of her future.  I love that the world is so wide open before her.

She’s in the dreaming age.  She’s in the everything is possible age.  She studies hard and has a compassionate heart.

Like many of you, I read Ann’s post on how ISIS is stealing the lives of men, and the futures of little girls, even younger than Silje.  My heart broke.  Everyone’s heart broke.  My friend Ginny, emailed me, and said she was putting together a fundraiser for the cause, and wondered if I might have a finished shawl to donate.  I’m offering my purple Madame Phelps Shawl that I knit.

I know way out in rural areas like mine, it’s easy to imagine the rest of the world away.  But the fact of the matter is, these girls who are being used overseas are just as precious as my girl.  They are just as smart.  They have hearts just as big.  They deserve someone fighting for them.

They have dreams too.

Their dreams may involve marriage, but not as a slave.  They should be able to grow up, be cherished, have interests and develop their gifts.  I stand along Ann, and Ginny, and millions of other women, and say I will not stand and watch ISIS destroy the lives of these girls.  They deserve protection.

They deserve to dream, with the world wide open in front of them.

These little girls being used by these terrorists are my little girl’s age.  I can’t get that out of my mind.

 

Ginny has 12 shawls up for raffle, and mine is one of them.  If you’d like to check them all out, you can see them HERE.  PLEASE GO CHECK THEM OUT!!  All the profits will be going to Preemptive Love, an organization who is doing some amazing work in Iraq.  It’s a ministry worth supporting.