May 3, 2014

Somewhere over the rainbow….
Natalie sang this sweet song to me last night as I lay next to her in bed. She was sky-high with beautiful joy having just completed the opening night of her Wizard of Oz production. Hearing her 6-year old sweet girl voice sing these words softly into my ear was like receiving a gift from heaven. I lay there looking at her twinkling eyes, wanting to soak up every ounce of the joy and childhood sweet innocence of that moment. These moments won’t last forever. So I lay there knowing full well that though it was 10:30pm she couldn’t yet fall asleep because of all the adrenaline that was still pumping through her from the show time of that evening. When she gets on stage she simply beams. She lights up on stage and is radiant with joy. Oh how she loves to sing and dance on stage!!!

This is her 5th show that she’s been in:
1) Narnia- she was a mouse
2) Aladdin- she was a monkey
3) Little Mermaid- she was a
4) Beauty and the Beast- she was a napkin
5) Wizard of Oz-
Now this was big!!!! Huge!!!! She couldn’t believe that she was given 3 parts! Three costume changes?!!!! She was over the moon with excitement. Absolutely thrilled!!!! “Mama, mama, mama I get to be City Father #2 AND a poppy AND a flying monkey!!!!!!”

This meant sooooooo much to her. In a kid’s world this is a really BIG promotion. Huge!

I have loved watching my baby girl grow in her confidence and courage. Being on stage performing in front of 350+ people is no small feat. I’ve grown so accustomed to watching Haven Academy of the Arts productions that I forget what a really, really big deal it is for a child, or anyone for that matter, to stand up in front of a large audience to speak