Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust

I have some fun photos of Kennedy’s second birthday celebration, but first some words on trust.

I’ve been trying to teach Whitney about trust lately. Every time she’s faced with a situation that’s scary for her, she runs away. Which is expected; she’s four. However, when I tell her that it’s going to be ok, that she needs to be brave, she runs. So lately I’ve been telling her, “Whitney, to trust someone means that you put your faith in them and believe what they say. Do you believe when I say that the 8-foot hallow zombie before you isn’t going to gobble you up?” Her fight or flight instincts are being developed, so her natural instinct is to run like the wind. She was afraid of the possibility of being chased by the scary zombie. It took some convincing, but she put her brave face on and simply walked past the zombie display in the Halloween outlet store.

The other day I was straightening her hair with a flat iron for school picture day. She went bananas because she was afraid that I would burn her. Of course I wouldn't burn her. She’s never been burned by a flat iron. We only flat iron for special occasions, so she’s not used to this method of hair-doing. Many girls get their hair curled with a curling iron for these events, but she has naturally wavy hair, so we sometimes straighten to feel pretty and different. She was afraid of the possibility of being burned. I told her, “Whitney, to trust someone means that you apply faith and believe what they say. Do you believe when I say that the iron will not burn you?” It might have taken longer than I’d planned, but she wore a brave face and got her hair straightened for picture day.

Ok, maybe these are horrible examples, but this is our life and what we faced this week. We’re working on faith and trust.

I’m learning a lot about trust myself. When people whom I've trusted disappointed me, it would unravel me. There was a time when I trusted easily, then it would hurt deeply when I found out I was defamed behind my back or lied to my face. Now I’m learning to simply move marbles out of their trust jar and call it a day. Everyone starts with a jar and some marbles rolling around in the bottom, one marble representing an ounce of trust. Then, life determines the weight. Whitney and I are 26 years apart, and we’re both learning about trust. Only, I’m showing her that it’s ok to start with a jar and a few marbles. Everyone needs to be begin with a seed, and then it’s on them to grow the trust tree or have it dug up and trashed.

With that said, I trust that I can share photos of my family here with you. And I trust that no one is stealing these photos – any from this site – for your own personal use. I believe in being real and in the human connection. However, taking images without my consent for your own use is copyright infringement.This blog is the marble jar. And the photos and information included are the marbles. I trust my readers enough for me to share my thoughts and images.

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We went to a Halloween outlet store (see hallow zombie above) last week to buy Disney costumes for our Disney on Ice adventure for Kennedy’s second birthday. I was going to go all DIY like I did last year for the girls’ costumes, but these were pricey enough that I have no choice but to use leftover Disney on Ice costumes for a night of Trick or Treating.

The celebration consisted of DOI (yeah, you like that?), Princess Punch, then cake back at the house.Whitney was tiny pixie Tinker Bell. Kennedy was beautiful Cinderella.



That large pin says Birthday Princess.





We drank Princess Punch before Disney on Ice: Strawberry, Orange and Banana Juice with vanilla ice cream.














We lit the candles probably nine times to get some good shots of her blowing them out.

Erin Bettis