Are You Short?

Are any of you under 5' tall?

Do any of you have 

extraordinarily short children?

I am wondering how to help Sarah respond to people when they comment on the fact that she is short (and all 3 of her younger siblings will probably pass her up pretty soon).


Sunday's conversation ...


A woman at church approached the table that Sarah, Rachel, and I were standing by.  She said, "You're the lady with the van, right?"  Which I thought funny ... as if I'm the only lady with a van ... but laughed and nonchalantly said, "No.  We actually sold our van and bought an SUV."  


She then (without even asking my name or introducing herself to me) turned to the cute little African children Sarah and asked, "What is your name?  How old are you?"  Then to Rachel with the same questions.  (Sarah will be 13 next month, while Rachel is 10.)


She looked back and forth between them, finally turning to Sarah to say, "She's almost as tall as you." (as if Sarah wasn't aware of this fact) "Oh well.  Over the next couple of years you will grow a lot more." (as if there were something terribly wrong with her being short, and her sister possibly passing her up in height).


I casually turned to the woman and responded, "Actually, no.  She's done growing.  This is as tall as she'll get."  To which the woman hurriedly rushed off.


I didn't try to embarrass the woman.  But, at the same time I wanted to show Sarah that she could respond honestly, without being embarrassed of her height.


When you look at the 2 girls, Sarah is clearly older.  Her facial features and build are much more mature than Rachel's.  However, the fact is:  Sarah didn't get much nutrition until she was nearly done growing.  The lack of nutrition in her childhood stunted her growth.  Period.  Our doctor told  me last spring that she appears to have reached her adult height, which I think is under 4'8".


Now, the funny thing is that in our family we are certainly not all the same height.  Two of Sarah's big sisters are 5'3" - 5'4" and two of Sarah's big sisters are 5'9" - 5'10".  Thankfully, they aren't all 5'10", to which Sarah would really feel short.  Interestingly, all four of our Big Boys are within an inch of each other at 5'10" - 5"11.


Two of the Big Girls didn't reach my height (5'6"), and none of the Big Boys reached Jim's height (6'2").  It will be interesting to see where the Young Ones end up on the yardstick.  I actually don't expect Rachel to continue growing much longer.  While the girls' birth certificates show them as 10 and 12, they are actually at least 12 and 15.  I expect neither of them will reach 5'.  While in Ghana, I met 3 of their older brothers; and two of the three are extraordinarily short, as well.


Anyway ... let me know if you have dealt with this issue, and what the best response might be for people that make comments implying that it is a horrible thing to be short.  Sarah and I did talk about it after we left church, and I told her that she can just smile and say, 

"Yes.  

I'm short.  

This is how God made me."