Precious Times

I shot out of work today and went straight to pick up two very adorable little girls. Their parents were looking forward to a quiet evening with guests. I was looking forward to a less-than-quiet evening with the girls.

Once we got back to our house, we ate a quick dinner then drug the toys out to the living room.

 Elise is still a bit short to reach into the toy boxes so I turned them on their side.

With remarkable speed, toys were strung around, better to pick and choose from!

One highlight of the evening was Cordelia making a drawing of the solar system, all by herself, then telling me the names of all the planets...in order.

She was pretty proud!

Me, too!

Bode kept an eagle eye on the toys.

After finding him chewing on a toy we realized he thought we'd

strung out a smorgasbord for them so we had to clean up some of the toys.

And guess what!? Elise found two Spidermans!

She was so excited and she had a very specific plan in mind.

They both had to be wrapped in blankets but it was was NOT appropriate

to wrap them up in one blanket together. She reprimanded me for that

so I grabbed another blanket and did it correctly.

She then made me situate her in between them both and watched

as she read a book to them.

As you can see,

they were enthralled.

I watched those pretty little girls

and said a silent prayer of thanks for this

precious time in my life.

Something About That Girl

There is something special about our granddaughter, Cordelia. I know, you are surprised that I think that, aren't you? Well, actually, there is something special about our other granddaughter, Elise, as well. However, this post is about Cordelia.

I totally believe that there is something special about every child. I hope no one is upset or thinks of this as bragging. I just think every child should have their good qualities mentioned frequently. I'm happy to do that!

Our daughter, Maria, recently mentioned Cordelia's repeated remarks that she was born to make the whole world smile. Isn't that just the sweetest thing? I've seen her do just that over and over. One example this week-end was when she gave a lady at a store a hug because she thought she was sad. She also asked the lady if she had any little children to make her smile.

When Cordelia was really little, maybe 2, she was able to verbalize that she felt shy in certain situations. One day, though, she told Maria that she wasn't going to be shy anymore. That was a life-changing day for her! She has been trying to make the whole world smile ever since! Sometimes it is simply running over to another child and saying, "Do you want to be my friend?"

Saturday I got to take both granddaughters to a park for a bit of fun. There was a little boy there, younger and rather intimidated, and Cordelia instantly set to work to make him smile. She showed him all around the park. He was a two year old and not yet too verbal. She didn't mind a bit! She just did the talking for both of them!  He ended up smiling a lot!

Yesterday we had a group from Youth Encounter, New Vision, at our church to lead worship. Cordelia LOVED them! From their first song she was enchanted. She got right into the clapping and dancing. When I complimented her clapping and such she turned to me and said, "Yes. I'm going to have to be in a band."

Later, the group had the children come up for a close-up view of a puppet show. At the end of it, Cordelia stood up and opened her arms wide stating, "I love you guys!"

After the worship service Cordelia ran over to them and was quite generous with her hugs. I heard her asking one of the team members if she could go with them. The girl asked Cordelia if she could play any musical instruments. Cordelia did not hesitate. She proclaimed, "I am very good on the drums so I'll just take the drums.

Later Sunday, when Sam and I stopped by their house, Cordelia gave us each some stones and sea shells from her little collection. She told us she wanted to give us something because we are very precious to her.

Yes, there is something special about that girl!