The Literal Child

Tonight, this happened:

But not after a full-on freak out session earlier in the week.  

She absolutely lost it - tears, snot, and screaming - at the thought of losing a tooth.  Freaked out and lost all control.  I could not figure it out for the life of me.  She had to have two teeth pulled by the dentist earlier this year - no big deal.  She's seen her friends and big sister lose teeth - no sweat.  But when it came to her own mouth, she freaked out.

Come to find out, she was scared of the tooth fairy.  Scared that some tiny creature was going to sneak into her room in the middle of the night.  Oh.  Given the fact that we had a similar incident over Santa a few years ago, I should have seen it coming.  

Once my extremely literal child was reassured that the tooth fairy was, in fact, Mom, all was well in the world.  She was perfectly happy to lose her tooth, even asked us to pull it out tonight.  And now my sweet, seven, gap-mouthed kid is sleeping peacefully.  Waiting for her "tooth fairy" to come.  

20

What's a birthday like in Heaven, sis?

Does Jesus throw the party?  I bet the food is fantastic.  

Your Father knows exactly the right gift.  He has always known.

~ ~ ~

Or do you even know it's your birthday in heaven? 

 In a place of perfection, beauty, and worship, in a place where time doesn't exist, is there even the celebration of the passing of a year?

~ ~ ~ 

On earth, today is bittersweet.  You would have been 20.  We would have been texting happy birthday wishes, writing on your FB wall, hugging you fiercely at church.  Probably doing something fun and slightly crazy to celebrate.  Today would have been a day to celebrate the amazing creation God made in you.  

~ ~ ~ 

Today will still be a day to celebrate you.  It always will.  I'm sure there will be tears - I can't even write this sentence without welling up.  But today will also be a day to celebrate.  To celebrate you.  Because you are loved.  You are cherished.  And you will always be remembered.  

Food, family, and fun in the sun

This Thanksgiving we made our annual trek to the land of sun and cactus to cram as much fun into 6 days as possible.  And 8 hours in the car is made a little more enjoyable when you have a brand new DVD player for the car.

Yes, this is pretty much what they looked like for the entire 8 hours.  

Thanksgiving was spent enjoying our precious 1-year old cousin,

Enjoying our furry 8 year-old cousin,

And discovered new ways to carry a ball

We also got to take family pics with our amazing sis-in-love and photographer extraordinaire

Took all the monkeys to the zoo

And had a close encounter with a very sweet baboon

Saturday night we got to go out with Adam and Kristin, our bro and sis-in-love to our first pro basketball game.  It was amazing to watch the spectacle

And managed to snag a rare photo of the four of us

Sunday evening we went out to dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma.  It was precious for the girls to be able to spend quality time with two grandmas at the same time.  And teaching Grandma the dot game was an added bonus!

We are so blessed, every year, to spend precious time with family.