Rebekah Karunya - Age 7

Our big 7-year-old!

Rebekah at 6 months

  Rebekah is officially seven today, and is feeling so grown up! In fact, she IS very grown up... in a seven-year-old sort of way. She's becoming quite the little lady, and often surprises us with her mature reactions to situations (though I admit that just as often her reactions are child-like as well). I read awhile ago that parents should not be discouraged when they don't see immediate results from their child-training. Parents should realize that training is a process, and if it is consistent, loving, and Biblical, it will reap positive results in time. In time. We have been attempting to train Rebekah in that manner since her birth, and it is a joy to begin to see some of the real fruit of that in her life.

Rebekah loves life. She gets excited easily, and when she is excited, everyone around her knows it!
She also loves to talk, but sometimes has a hard time getting her words out or her ideas across. We often have to remind her to stop and think about what she's going to say before she starts talking!

Rebekah loves people. That's been true since the first day she was born! She especially enjoys hanging out with her friends and grandparents. We are loving having grandparents nearby again!

Dress-up with her good buddy Prathana

With Grandad and Grandma Waldock on their 40th Anniversary

 Rebekah is definitely our planner. When she hears the adults talking about some upcoming event, she immediately starts trying to plan it all out. She does come by it honestly. =) Even at age 7 (and before), she makes plans and goals for herself. When we went to Thailand, her goal was to learn to swim (her plan was to swim at least once a day). When Daddy started teaching her a new running style, she determined to focus on mastering that before going back to learning to ride her bike. When she dove head-first into reading chapter books, she had a stack of about 10 books on her bed and said, "I'm going to try to finish all of these books by the end of the month." Not surprisingly, she did!

Silly girl!

Rebekah is also our organizer (which goes hand in hand with the planning). That does not always mean that her room is clean and her clothes are organized. It does mean that when she sets out to organize something, she does it thoroughly and well... and is very specific about how she wants it organized. As a toddler she would take all of my plastic containers from the kitchen and line them up in order of size and shape. With her toy animals she would line them up by type of animal (big cats together, deer and moose together, etc.). She's still the same way. For example, the other day after church some of the boys were playing "keep away" with a soccer ball. Rebekah ran over and, thinking they were playing soccer, asked where the goals were. She then proceeded to set goal points, assign teams, and dictate rules, all the while holding the ball so the boys would stop playing and listen to her! The boys just stood there and stared at her. When I told her to give them back the ball, she did, joining in the now soccer game and continuing to call out instructions! Yes, with the organization and planning comes a fair amount of bossiness. And there is a good bit of consternation if things are not organized according to her plan! This causes some friction at times when both Rebekah and I (Rachel) are attempting to plan and organize the same thing. =) More opportunities to learn consideration for others. =)

  Our not-at-all-shy girl loves being the center of attention. She is gradually learning, though, that the world can't revolve around her, and she's learning the importance of showing consideration for others and thinking more about the other person than about herself. Some days we can visibly see in her eyes the inward struggle! (But then even we adults aren't always great at thinking of others first.) Rebekah wants very much to do the right thing, and is often frustrated that she doesn't always do what God wants her to do. More than once she has said, "I wish Adam and Eve hadn't eaten that fruit!"

 Rebekah loves excitement, doing new and different things. She is often coming up with different projects to do - like attempting to make Greek pots out of clay (below), or Viking cauldrons out of sticks and half a ping-pong ball. She gets very excited about these projects!

Making Greek pots

Somewhere along the way, Rebekah really took off in reading. She has always enjoyed reading, but now she really enjoys reading. I think it began near the beginning of this year when I read the first chapter of a Magic Tree House book to her, and then said we'd save the next chapter for later. To be honest, I did that on purpose, thinking that she would be hooked and then continue reading the book on her own. It worked! She was hooked beyond what I'd imagined! In about two weeks she had read the first 19 Magic Tree House books. Yes, the first nineteen. She has been devouring chapter books ever since. (We don't have public libraries here, but we can download e-books from our library in the States, and that has proven to be a wonderful thing!) She says that she doesn't need books with pictures because she can picture what is happening in her head. Spoken like a true reader. =)

She feels so big reading to her little brother and sister, and they (usually) enjoy it too.

This is where I often find her. The look of concentration on her face shows how she really gets into her books. =)

In school, Rebekah pretty much does as well as she wants to on a given day. She's got a good mind, but it is easily distracted, so I have to keep things exciting if I want to keep her on task! Reading is definitely her best subject. She also very much enjoys history and science as those involve more experiments and "living books"... and of course making Viking cauldrons out of ping pong balls! Math has probably been her biggest challenge - the one area where it sometimes takes her a couple of days to really grasp a new concept. We currently use Abeka, which really pushes memorization of addition and subtraction facts. She struggled with that for awhile, while her teacher (me) struggled to make drills fun. But then (begin commercial) we found Math Rider, a fun computer game that teaches math facts, and that has totally changed things for her. Now she asks to practice her math facts! And her retention of those facts has improved dramatically. She is proud of her achievements, and we are both less stressed over math = win!

Hard at work

Our end-of-school year celebration recently

Over the past few months we have been seeing more of Rebekah's heart for others. She cares about people, and is very concerned that they know Jesus. It would not surprise us at all to discover someday that she has the gift of evangelism.

Rebekah has become quite the little lady. Literally, as one of her recent goals for herself is to "be a lady like Grandma." In other words, she is in the process of learning several of the rules of good manners and etiquette - and thinks everyone else should do the same. Grandma Waldock is her role model and mentor in this venture. =)

Making fun cookies with Grandma Waldock

Rebekah enjoys playing games, especially because that means fun interaction with other people!
She also loves anything crafty or artistic. She loves making things for herself and for others, and is very creative in what she does. She finds great pleasure in re-purposing items for various projects (which also means she wants to keep everything... from plastic containers to food wrappers). She often appears in the kitchen saying, "If you're going to throw that away, I think I can use it for something." These days if I want to throw something away, I have to do it in secret!

 Another thing Rebekah enjoys is giving. She certainly enjoys receiving too, but she finds great pleasure in giving to others. She even went so far as to say that she's not sure which she enjoys more - giving or receiving gifts! Lord willing that will be a trait that only grows as she gets older.

  Rebekah loves helping around the house - as long as it's on her terms! She says often that she likes doing housework when it's her choice to do it. Or if she's earning money for doing a certain chore. She's not so thrilled when it's something she has to do. She knows that's an attitude that needs to change, but we all know that's a tough one - even for adults!

Helping with the dishes

 A few things Rebekah is learning these days:

Riding a bike - she's gained confidence and balance over the past months, but isn't yet ready to remove the training wheels. She loves riding though, especially when Hannah rides with her on the back!

 Swimming - Since our time in Thailand, she's really starting to get the hang of it (another goal she had set for herself)!

Cooking and baking - She loves helping in the kitchen. She's excited about everything she gets to cook or bake. Not long ago she made some biscuits, almost all on her own, and was thrilled! She's also learning to make pancakes (flipping them is the hard part), and can make simple lunches of sandwiches and sliced veggies all by herself. She feels especially grown up when I let her do the whole thing, including choosing the type of sandwiches, vegetables, etc.

Typing -  Having seen her Mom and Dad type, Rebekah realized on her own that knowing how to type will be a valuable skill in her life. So a few months ago we found an online game that teaches typing systematically. She loved it and went through most of the program in 2-3 weeks (yes, when she gets into something, she's into it). Now she knows most of the fingering; she just needs to practice to increase her speed and her ability to type without watching her fingers. She's pretty excited about learning this as well. =)

Kannada -  In India, each State has it's own language. Kannada is the language of our state, and although only about 1/4 of the population of our city speaks it as a first language (because so many people have flooded the city for business), the government is really pushing for it to be more widely used. And although English is very widely spoken in this city, knowing Kannada would be a valuable asset for our family. For about 3 months, we went to an elementary school twice a week for their 1st grade Kannada classes. Rebekah loved it and did very well. She can now read and write in Kannada (though she doesn't usually know what she is reading), and has a growing vocabulary. Our next step is to (Lord willing) find a tutor who can teach our entire family conversational Kannada. Rebekah's main motivation for learning Kannada is so she can speak to the children of the construction workers on our street.

Rebekah is also learning to be both American and Indian - and enjoy them both. That is not an easy proposition for most Third-Culture kids. When we returned to India in 2010, she had a hard time adjusting back, and spent a good deal of time praising all things American over things Indian (even when she didn't really remember things in the States as well as she thought she did). This was a concern for awhile, but over the last year or so, she seems to have balanced out a good deal. She looks forward to visiting family in the States, but she is also happy in India - with the people and things here. Being content and comfortable where she is will likely be a lifelong challenge, but we're thankful that for now at least, she is happy where she is.

Our little American-Indian

Rebekah's brother and sister are two of her best friends, although I don't think she would admit that. She definitely fills the role of "big sister," making sure Daniel and Hannah toe her line as much as possible! But then she is the firstborn of two firstborns, so the bossiness comes very naturally. But she loves them both very much, and although there are times when they exasperate her to no end, they usually get along well together.

How thankful we are for our big, beautiful, goofy 7-year-old! Oh how the years go by....