I've told you about
my journey, my
type 2 daughter's journey and am so excited to share with you by
type 3 daughter's transformation!
In my defense, I just didn't know any different. I didn't know that I shouldn't dress my girls as "mini-me" - I maybe should have known; but I didn't. As soon as I began my journey last summer by reading Carol Tuttle's books, a light bulb went on. With the help of some good friends who were
Dressing Their Truth, I immediately involved my girls in dressing your truth and here are the results!
In 2007, I dressed my entire family in white shirts and blue jeans for pictures.
Here is my beautiful 10 year old looking far more washed out and tired than she is!
I'm sorry. I was being a good moma and rolled her hair in those horrible pink sponge rollers and voila! nightmare on Easter morning. We were all pretty miserable that year in our clothes for one reason or another but that's another post.
Anyway, here she is in a darling type 1 dress and curly hair.
Here are 5th grade "school pictures."
She was starting a new school with uniforms and wanted to wear them for our pictures.
"Little pink sponge rollers" is all I can say.
Here we are four months later for our Christmas pictures.
2009: Why is she in pink? She hates pink!!!
I did not make her wear this so it's interesting to see through pictures the battle that she was personally having embracing her nature.
Lots of changes during this year - braces being a huge one.
2010 Easter: Again, curled hair, new dress...
She is so pretty! Yet, I know she didn't feel pretty.
Like I've said, "I can't go back and change anything - all I can do is take the knowledge God has given me and use it to His glory."
2011 Easter: I think she likes this dress!
Maybe the texture?
(I asked her and she said she does like this dress. However, compared to her new clothes and type 3 dresses, there is no comparison.)
2011 Family Photo Shoot: Again, why pink?
I didn't pick it out for her - it was her older sister's dress that she wanted to wear.
Her hair is pulled back in a tight bun with one small curl framing her face.
(I asked her about this one, too: She likes the asymmetrical lines. There are angles all over the place from the bodice to the body. It's also a rough texture. So, it's really just the wrong color!)
Here is our darling in her 8th grade graduation.
It fades down to a dark teal. It fit nicely (a tad short - oops!) and I think she felt good in it. I'll have to ask her.
(Answer: "I felt really good that day. I had just gotten my braces off and felt pretty. This was a new dress and while not a type 3, at the time, I liked it. Of all my dresses, this was one I was sorry to see go. Yet, I know I shouldn't wear it and probably wouldn't given how good I feel in other things.)
HIGH SCHOOL!
The fall of 2012 brought a "cute" short hair cut and a very cheery, cute, bright shirt for her first day of school.
Christmas 2012: You can see the difference in reds when you compare the poinsettia to her dress. Her dress has black added to it and we were just beginning to get her some "real" clothes.
She got some new shirts and jewelry and even though her hair isn't done, it's done appropriately for rolling dough! This shows that it didn't take long for her to dress her truth no matter the occasion.
Easter 2013:
I'm in dark teal and black and she's in dark teal with brown accents, big brown belt (can't see well) and a brown sweater she loves!
Just "bumming" around this past July.
You can't tell from the picture but this is a "dirty" yellow and paired with her type 3 jewelry, she pulls it off well. You can see that she doesn't always do her hair but she always takes care to wear clothes she feels GREAT in.
(Type 1 little brother photo bombing!)
Same day - she had brought a nice brown jacket to put on...just because!
Dressing Your Truth and knowing how to communicate with each other has SAVED our relationship.
We enjoy each other now. We know what the other needs and work on making those things happen.
Here she is in a new brown t-shirt with orange accents.
Then one night, late at night, she asked me to cut her hair.
She told me what to do and I just did it... cringing and praying!
SHE LOVED IT!
Dressing HER Truth:
Rocking the fingerless gloves, type 3 orange shirt I got her in Peru, jewelry and... awesome hair!
Some friends invited us for supper and she walked out -
BAAM!!
Take that world!
Only my little firecracker (out of Mel and me) could take her sisters' skirt, make it dress by adding a cool belt, big jewelry, crazy hair and look AWESOME!
(We don't usually allow strapless but this comes so high and didn't sag at all that we let it go... this time.)
And now, for our first day of school 2013!
She's so AWESOME! Talk about one hot, exotic chic!
Chapel Day brought this sweet number:
Don't you just love her leggings?!?!
She's a super shopper and only buys things that are what she is willing to spend. She found this orange & brown dress tank top at the outlet mall. She fell in love and spent a whopping $5 on it!
Sky has come out of her shell. She has blossomed, bloomed, come alive this past year. Not just style wise; although she totally rocks, but inside. She's confident. She's bold. She's rough. She's free to be her! She processes things differently and she's finally learned that not only is that okay, it's GOOD! There is nothing wrong with her. She's not me and she's not her sis. She's our only type 3 gal and she represents.
We use to fight. Cry. Argue. Debate. You name it, we did it. We sought professional help and went through intense "stuff" for years. Nothing worked like finally knowing that we are different and when you take two strong people and put them together, love needs to flow between the two for us to get along. We have that now.
Do we always agree? HA! That hasn't changed one bit. What has changed is how we deal with things. Sometimes all we know to do is say, "You're such a FOUR!" I always come up with some highly intelligent response, "Well... you're such a THREE!" then we laugh, smile and hug and see if something else needs done or was the simple act of love all that was needed? Usually it is.
Life's not perfect because life is messy. There are heartaches that my girl has had to endure in this crazy blended family that no child should ever face. God sure knew what he was doing when he created this
strong, independent, big-hearted, confident, determined, energetic, intense, high-spirited, solid spicy heir to His kingdom. I'll admit that I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for what He has planned for her. If her inner strength and power are an indication of what's to come...
Simply, she rocks my world and I love her more than words can express.
