Jordan is very strange sometimes. She complains that she's lonely out here - and to be fair - there isn't another girl her age that lives within walking distance that she knows. I would have thought that being so lonely, she'd take opportunities when she got them, like making friends with my friends' kids even if they're younger, or meet the kids somewhat close to her age at church, etc. But she doesn't introduce herself or try to talk to other girls her age when she can. Instead she plays shy and leaves without making new friends.
Today she's in our kitchen baking with a friend! I've been selling baked goods at our local farmer's market on Saturdays and another homeschooling family that's there every week has a daughter about a year older. If she was younger, I bet Jordan never would've even talked to her.
This girl is a farm girl. She out-works most adults! She's thin, blonde, blue eyes, really pretty, but that's about all that's girl-y about her. She likes carrying a pocketknife, loves camouflage, sword fighting, tae kwon do, and thinks nothing of doing 10 hours of physical labor in 90 degree sun & heat, while carrying 50 lb bags of grain, and never stopping to complain.
Jordan on the other hand is VERY girl-y! She likes long nails, long hair, lots of makeup, lacy & sparkly things, stuffed animals, computer games, nail polish, purses and oh, the SHOES!!!
Today she'll be just beyond her comfort zone to find things to talk about. The girls only common ground (besides homeschooling and selling at the Farmer's Market) is baking. They're making brownies and Moni's Fudge Balls (they're amazing!). It's been about 2 hours, so far so good, but there's still another 5 1/2 hours to go. They agreed on pizza for lunch - that's a good start.
Not sure what they'll be doing the rest of the afternoon, maybe watching a movie or two so her friend can relax on her only day off from hard work for a long while. They're family works all the time!
Maybe her friend can help Jordan to learn some new things, and maybe Jordan can learn that you don't have to have everything in common to be friends.
