Day 71

Nan and Poppa surprised us today by stopping by for church and taking us to lunch. The kids LOVED seeing them and playing with them. What a fun way to spend a Sunday morning! We went to Joseph Beth to the cafeteria and had pancakes and enjoyed catching up.

Bennett was surprisingly shy at first, but he certainly warmed up to his Poppa!

The kids had tons of fun playing at the Children's Area with Nan and Poppa. We were so happy that they were able to stop by and can't wait to see them in a week and a half in TN.

This afternoon, I let the kids decorate their gingerbread house. They've been asking to decorate this since I got it three weeks ago. It was easy and fun and much candy was eaten by all. Bennett squealed through the whole process because he wanted more candy. Stinker.

The end result was really cute! Now they'll be bugging me to eat it ALL THE TIME!

This evening, Maura really touched me with her sweet spirit. She came to me while I was reading to Tristan and told me that she had four dollars now that she had gotten her money from the tooth fairy. She remembered that there is a stuffed Jesus Loves Me lamb in the Samaritan's Purse catalogue, and she really wanted to take her four dollars and buy one for a child in another country who needed a toy. She said, "Ms. Amanda told us something today that I'm going to hide away in my heart. She said we need to think about God first, others second, and ourselves last." Precious. Just absolutely precious. I had to wipe away tears as I took her little face in my hands and told her how proud I was of her for sharing with others. LOVE Ms. Amanda, and LOVE the programs that help to mold our sweet children into what God desires for them to be. They're studying Generosity this month at Kids Own Worship and apparently it's really taking root in the heart of our sweet, sensitive oldest child.