Sugar & Spice

In 2006, we found out that our fourth child was going to be a girl.  The boys were enthralled by the many gifts of dresses and tights and bloomers and everything fluff and poof. 

When JoyAnna was born, her brothers were absolutely enamored with her.  She was a fascination to them with all of her lace and pink.

We all treated her as if she was our very own doll.  The boys would get so excited about her daily outfits. The first person to see her would serve as the family informant running through the house with the day's fashion update.  

Sometimes we wondered if she wasn't just a bit overwhelmed by all the attention.

Then something changed. JoyAnna started to grow up and the boys began to realize that she wasn't a doll made for their play. She had an opinion and a will -- and a loud, loud voice when crossed.  They didn't like this.

Over time, JoyAnna's love for pink and fluff and everything princess grew while her brother's tolerance of it lessened.  

The boys would linger long over action and adventure while JoyAnna would run straight to anything princess.  The boys would skip anything overly emotional in their animated films, while their sister wanted only the "love parts."  This girl in the family was turning out to be very, very different and they weren't always sure how to handle it.

But I love that God made each of us with unique passions and interests -- and opportunity to love Him and to love others with our unique selves. Hopefully, there comes this point when I realize that who I am is all that I need to be.  Wouldn't that be freeing?

This Valentine's Day JoyAnna is using her unique passion for flowers and pink and everything love to help bring clean water to our friends in Uganda. She's selling flowers to raise money to dig a well.  Our resident Cupid was created for this project and it is simply delightful.

So far we have received 16 orders of roses to be delivered to residents in our local nursing homes!  JoyAnna absolutely loves getting to visit nursing homes.  For years she has brought joy and laughter to the halls of the often forgotten treasures in our society. 

When she was a baby, JoyAnna was passed around like a living doll among women accustomed to nurturing.

As she got older, we found that bringing flowers was a great way to meet new friends. 

As we built relationships, we would bring a few, easy games and sit in the halls and have mini-tournaments.  JoyAnna can be quite a fierce UNO player. 

We still have roses available if you're interested in ordering for yourself, a loved one or an appreciative shut-in.  Send us an email (themains@gmail.com). 

We can't wait to give you an update next week!