Braggin' on Lydia

All my daughters are gifted young women. Alayna's cooking expertise, hospitality and organizational skills are second to none. Natalie can write and perform music that can grab the attention of the noisiest venue (plus she's a mean car mechanic and landscaper!). And Emma can quote and act entire scenes from her favorite movies (as well as overcoming any obstacle facing her with Down syndrome).

Lydia, my 12-year-old, is expressing her creativity through writing and sculpting. She is enthralled with the Lord of the Rings, both book and movies, and has been sculpting some of the figures. Her latest piece on Gollum blew me away.

Young Catbird

Lydia ran over to our picnic table at the lake. She said she had something I needed to see. There, sitting on the lawn was a young catbird, obviously sick or injured. She begged to take him home to see if we could nurture him back to health. Unfortunately the poor critter didn't make it through the night. However, he did get an opportunity to be immortalized on paper.