A mom gets sentimental….

From bryzzia's art…

I have asked a dear friend if I can post here some of her entries in her blog at Multiply. She is my best friend’s sister and is like a sister to me as well. She lives in Baguio City and loves to write about her children and the rest of her family.
Please welcome Ate Joy.

Bryzzia Joy
by Guest writer Joy Diaz

A mom gets sentimental as she sees her kids growing up so quickly. Bryzzia, the very first baby God so graciously blessed me with will be a lady in a few years time.

Of my three kids, I had the most difficulty giving birth to her. I was sick (highly toxic with over supply of iodine) while pregnant, extremely thin. I was in dry labor for two days. We had to stay in the hospital for ten (10) long, agonizing days because she had sepsis. As a frail pre-schooler, I would bring her to my office where she would sit and draw and try to read. She just kept on drawing, from the time she learned to hold a pencil up to now. Her first drawings were of Jack and Jill (copying from the box of pretzels!). As a pre-schooler, she was smart and brilliant but had to go through a lot. She was traumatized in Kinder (not at Northridge Academy) by an inhumane teacher who taped her mouth because she was talkative. When I think of it now, as my daughter was recovering from her trauma, i was struggling with her at the same time.

But truly, God is good. He will lead you through it, it may take a long time but He shows the way. All we need to do is to trust.

Looking at Bryzzia now, I am pleased with what I see. She is tall and is still growing (really fast!), she prefers having long hair now. She draws, writes short stories, keeps her own diary, sings. Still sensitive, she listens and analyzes. I can explain things to her like the need to change and why there is a need to do this. She responds, sometimes with fear in her heart, but she tries her best to understand. I can talk to her like a friend, an adult, a buddy. There are times when she losses her cool– when she is like this she is just like me. She snaps, shouts, yells in an instant but calms down, thinks and resents what she just did. She cries easily (again like me). Many times there is a need for her own private space. The artist in her dictates this as well as her sensitivity. She loves her siblings and manifests this love by being jealous when she sees Jobo being happy with other playmates or Pia being happy doing something else. Her concern for family amazes me. In her young mind, she is sensitive to changes in the family, when problems arise she is the first who gets affected.

Oh she is a certified bookworm. There is not a single day that she does not read a book. She must have read more books than I have ever read in my lifetime. Her joys are simple. Her Christmas wishlist was a list of book titles as well as authors.

Of the many, many events in her young life that we went through together, this is the first and foremost — it was because of her that we were led to a new school – Christian Legacy Academy – which is now working wonders on her and her siblings. It was through her prodding that we started attending Sunday bible studies and worship services.

My Bryzzia is turning eleven soon. And truly, I praise and thank God for entrusting