5 Minute Friday ~ Grow

"I get a terr'ble awful ache
'specially when it rains.
At first I was a 'fraidy cat
but now I know it's growing pains.
Gosh! oh gee! oh can't you see,
I'll soon be grown up tall,
So I've got to think what I will be
when I'm no longer small.

When I grow up
in a year or two or three,
I'll be happy as can be
like a birdie in a tree.

When I grow up
there's a lot I want to do.
I will have real dollies too,
Like the woman in the shoe!"

When I started to think about the word "grow," this little ditty I remember Shirley Temple singing in a movie I used to watch as a little girl was the very first thing that came to mind... Obviously, it impacted me because I still remember the words!

I've always wanted to be a missionary - since almost before I can remember. I hear myself saying countless times as a little... and not so little... girl: "I'm going to be a missionary when I grow up!" I've always known I would be. The specifics weren't there. First I wanted to be a missionary cowgirl and save all the ranchers (I grew up in Oklahoma). Then it was a missionary doctor... teacher... pilot... assistant district attorney helping and evangelizing those who couldn't afford an attorney... a special educator who impacted my students for Christ... and now here I am, a missionary wife and mom, teaching reading in tribal languages, teaching bible studies through translators, and working with missionary kids who have learning challenges.

I love how God let me dream... let my dream grow and change... and the whole time, He was growing and changing me.

He is, still is, and will continue (changing me, that is).

I grateful THAT will never change.

(all photos of me, as a little girl... my mom scans and sends them to me sometime!)

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Not a part of 5 Minute Friday... but the entire lyrics to

"When I grow up!"

I get a terr'ble awful ache
'specially when it rains.
At first I was a 'fraidy cat
but now I know it's growing pains.
Gosh! oh gee! oh can't you see,
I'll soon be grown up tall,
So I've got to think what I will be
when I'm no longer small.

When I grow up
in a year or two or three,
I'll be happy as can be
like a birdie in a tree.

When I grow up
there's a lot I want to do.
I will have real dollies too,
Like the woman in the shoe!

I want to be a teacher so the children can say,
Teacher dear
the gangs all here
with apples today.

When I grow up
I will have a big surprise,
For I'll bake the kind of pies,
that'll make you roll your eyes.
And if you see
that you need some company,
You can call me up and I'll come down
when I grow up!.

When I am sweet sixteen I'm going to a ball,
Of all the ladies there I'd like to be the best of all;
I'll wear a dress of silver and lace, they'll call me Princess Curly,
I'll be like Cinderella 'cept I won't run home so early.
I want to meet a handsome prince with a uniform of gold,
But I won't lose my slipper 'cause my tootsies might get cold.
I'll talk with queens and dance with kings like a little princess would;
If I could only do these things, I promise I'll be good.

When I am twenty-one I wish that I could look
Like the picture that I saw in a pretty story book;
A laur little girls were standing there much tinier than me
And they all carried baskets, they looked happy as can be,
Every one was smiling and having lots of fun;
I wish that I could be like that when I am twenty-one.

When I get very very old I'll stay at home all day,
But I haven't quite made up my mind,-- it's much too far away.
I think that I would like to be like the lady on the wall,
She looks so nice and comfy in her rocking chair 'n' all.
With that little cap upon her head she looks real pretty, too,
I like her long and funny dress, I like her hair, don't you?
It must be oh,-- so quiet you can hear the tick of the clock,
But it must be fun to have nothing to do but rock, and rock, and rock.