Sorraya: SIX Years Old

Sorraya is SIX years old!

January 22, 2020

Oh, our Raya girl is something special. She is a mix of alot of things. She is 38lbs and 3ft 9inches tall. She wears size 4-6 clothes and size 9-10 shoes. She has not lost any teeth. Her hair continues to grow and she is loving it.

Raya is usually a happy, care-free girl. She is often found singing, dancing, smiling, playing, drawing, coloring or doing crafts. She loves to be around people and playing with them. She is up for a game or a friend to play with. She can pick up songs really well and is often singing them or making up her own. She enjoys card games. She loves having books read to her and she is doing a good job of learning to read as well. She loves crafts and making them for friends. She can never have enough journals to write in. And has recently asked to start a prayer journal and will come to me to add requests to it. I love her prayers that she comes up with. She has the same that she asks to pray for at prayer meeting on Wednesdays: 1) that the abortion clinic downtown would close 2) that we would obey our parents 3)that us siblings would get along better. And at home when she prays for meals, she always adds those ladies who have babies in their bellies. I love her little heart and what she thinks of. Raya loves playing on her iPad - the games are always a hit, as well as the shows. She enjoys shopping and looking around. She is always on the ground searching for coins - and finds them the most out of all the kids. She also picks up all sorts of "treasures" on the floor at stores. She collects things as we walk around and she knows to always ask the clerk if she can bring things home before we leave the store. Usually, it is a yes. Then mom has to battle with her "treasures" later. She knows when I throw them away too. Raya is not neat and tidy. She often has a mess of her things around the house. Her clothes are thrown on her brothers bed when she changes. Her dresser has clothes hanging out of it. She wears clothes inside out, backwards and mismatched -usually just her jammies. We find her socks all over the place and all her many trinkets she finds are hard to reign in. Her hair is often messy too. But she does have nice handwriting - so that's a plus. Raya is a picky eater. She is not open minded and just likes to stick with what she loves: which is Mac and cheese, fruit, yogurt, pizza, chicken nuggets and all sweets. She can take forever to eat a meal. She got to do gymnastics for the first time this year and she loved it. She was in her element and rocked it. Her coach told us she should be in the advanced class. Raya was thrilled to have her own leotard. She loves playing outside in the snow or sun.  She loves the monkey bars. We found her a new (to us), bigger bike this fall and she was so thrilled when we showed her it she cried. It was sweet. Raya plays hard. She is a rough and tumble girl. Always full of bruises. She loves doing the monkey bars and playing with her friends. She often is found in her princess dresses. She loves baths or showers and add a bath bomb to it and it is so special. Raya is a slow-poke too. She seems to always be the last one to finish a meal or task. She make everything longer than it needs to be. Some of it is disobedience and some of it is just her putzy personality. She can be very thoughtful. She loves snuggling up with someone - she can be very affectionate as well. She loves when we have guests over - wants to open the door, wants to ask what they want to drink. She loves helping in the kitchen. She can make scrambled eggs by herself (mostly) and loves helping me chop thing and open cans. She loves putting the powdered cheese into mac and cheese. She loves washing dishes and does a good job too. She is a good duster and window washer. She is very detailed in her cleaning. She does a good job at sorting her laundry and putting it away. She will help Drayden as well. She loves gum and can blow big bubbles. She learned to whistle and tie her shoes as well. She is quick to make friends. 

Raya is a silly sleeper. She and Ryken switch beds on the bunk beds ever so often. But which ever one she is on she sleeps so silly. She recently has been sleeping inside a pillowcase. She sleeps onto of her blankets and inside and empty pillowcase...she says she was too hot otherwise. She has always even a wild sleeper. She often has scary dreams and she finds her way up to our room and into our bed for some of the night. She is genuinely crying and scared. She has even said the reason she sings so long at night is because she doesn't want to go to bed and have bad dreams. Thankfully they are not every night, but we do hope the stage for her is short. She goes to bed with the others around 9pm and wakes up between 7:30-8:00am. 

Raya is an eager learner. We have not done full-time school with her this year, but she is always reading to do her work. She enjoys learning. She can be somewhat of a perfectionists when it comes to her writing....which we did not instill that in her. She is so excited to read, and I wish I was more diligent with it, cause she could be so much further along than she is. She does sit and listen to Ryken's school and can often give answers to his questions. She is doing so well with our Sunday School program that us new this year. They have learned the words to several Psalms already, she has many Prove It catechism down and she has learned the Lord's prayer and all 10 commandments by heart as well. She has a quick mind. She always has many good questions about things. What she learns she comments with and is excited to make the connections. Like we were given a map of the consolations and she tuned to me after she was looking at it for a little bit and said "Mom, the stars in the sky are as many sons that Abraham is going to have." She learns words and comments them back to Psalms we have learned and other things she has memorized. She has a sensitive heart when it comes to her sin and the state of her heart. She asks questions like why isn't my heart changed when i have prayed for God to do so. And why hasn't God helped me be nicer to my brothers since we have prayed. I am thankful for the work that the Lord is doing through the Sunday school at church, and our review at home, our Bible stories during school, Family worship at home each night and just day to day things that bring things to mind. May the Lord be gracious to save her heart.

Raya can be very nasty to her brothers. She has had a real hard time lately with this. She speaks nasty to them, treats them poorly, hurts them on purpose and doesn't seem to care to help them and serve them. We have had many conversations about these issues and it is a work in progress. She does not like being called out for her disobedience and sin. She does not like to be joked around with. She does not always like asking or receiving help - she likes she figure it out. She is not careful with most things - she breaks or damages a lot of things.

We are thankful for our Raya. She has taught us much about our own-selves. She is made in the image of God and does things a little bit different from the others. She is a sweetheart, a joy and we are thankful God chose to put her in our family. We love you!

Sorraya's Birthday Interview

1. My favorite color is: Pink

2. My favorite toy is: Pink doll (kinda like a Barbie)

3. My favorite food is: Mac and Cheese

4. One food that I really don't like is: spaghetti 

5. My favorite thing to watch is: Chole's Closet

6. Something mom and dad always say is: "Go make your bed"

7. My favorite place to go is: the neighborhood park

8. My favorite thing to do with daddy is: snuggle in the chair with him

9.My favorite thing to do with mommy is: run errands and go to the Rustad Center

10. My favorite book is: 5 Minute Princess Story book

11. My favorite song is: Psalm 6B (in the Psalter)

12. My favorite album is: Trolls soundtrack

13. My favorite thing to do outside is: play with my friends

14. My favorite restaurant is : Smiling Moose

15. My favorite thing to do each day is: to play with my brothers and sister

16. Something that is scary to me: scary dreams

17. My favorite day of the week is: why? Saturday - because dad is home. Sunday - because we go to church.

18. My favorite sport is: gymnastics

19. My favorite things about being a big sister is: that I have a little sister

20. What I would like to be when I grow up: a normal mom (she pointed to me, "like you"one who doesn't work outside the home)