The 30 Day Blog Challenge, Day 20: Childhood Memories

Prompt: Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

Okay, I'm a teenager so by technicalities of the law and my parents (and I think the Bible too...) I'm still in "childhood." But I won't let that stop me from describing a few memories of mine. It'll be kind of like the letter I wrote to my 16 year old self even though I'm still 16! :)

1) Sunday School
I still vaguely remember some of the events of Sunday School at my church in Kissimmee, Florida when I was only 3 or 4 years old. We'd sing songs, learn Bible stories, and eat frosted Animal Crackers. I remember some of my teachers, and some of the songs we learned like "The Wise Man Built His House on the Rock," "Let My People Go," (I had my first lesson of snapping my fingers in this song), "Onward Christian Soldiers," and the most famous of all: "Jesus Loves Me." I'm so glad that I started learning about God's love at such a young age. I think that it was the foundation of my faith that was built early, so that it could be built upon for the rest of my life. And now, it's that faith of that little girl at Sunday School that I can fall back on when I have any doubt about God's love (and that doubt never lasts long).

2) Drawing Pictures
When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I used to ALWAYS draw or color pictures on 8' x 11" standard copy paper with RoseArt or Crayola crayons on a little table in my bedroom. The table, from Fisher Price, was a terrifyingly ugly dandelion yellow with two benches on the sides that were red and purple. Overall, the entire table was about 1.5 feet off the ground: very small, very ugly, very much used and loved. The table was my school desk and also the kid's table at many Thanksgiving dinners, but primarily, it was my drawing desk. I colored everything: ladybugs, jack-o-lanterns, Christmas Trees, Monster's Inc. characters, and baby Moses in a basket on the river. To this day, my grandmother collected them all (or what she could save anyway) and made a quilt which is hanging on the wall in my bedroom. Looking back, I think the reason I drew pictures so often was because it was my mode of communication. I didn't know how to write very well (at that time, I thought writing was using a pencil to draw letters in the alphabet) so I drew pictures about what I was feeling or thinking about. When I learned how to write sentences and stories, I didn't draw so much anymore at all. By the time I was 8, I had my own diary which I still have on my bookshelf today. Writing and drawing were things that God gave me to communicate with others that I've taken advantage of since I was little, and I still haven't stopped.

3) First Day at Kindergarten
My first day at Kindergarten was at Rocky Mountain Christian Academy in Niwot, Colorado in the early autumn of 2002. It wasn't the first day of school, but maybe a few weeks or a month afterwards, so I was considered "the new kid." I had already met my teachers a few days before, but not my classmates. My parents still have a picture of me and my sister on that morning before leaving for school in the front yard of the house we were staying in. The picture is too cute: Moriah in a pink sweater and polka-dot pants all ready for pre-school, and me in my uniform: navy blue cardigan, plaid skirt, and knee socks. I was more excited than nervous, but I remember being scared of going to a school for the morning with kids that I had never met before. My teachers were very kind though. During circle time, I got to pick a song to sing: I think I had the choice between the alphabet or the days of the week. Ready to try something new, I chose the days of the week song (and I still remember it to this day). I've been attending the same school every year since, and it's proven to be a big part of my life.

Question for the Reader: What are your favorite childhood memories?

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." --Proverbs 22:6