My Little Girl Is Not So Little Any More

Last week I left off not knowing how Lollie would do the rest of the week. Monday my dad stayed with her and she seemed fine all day. We were ready to send her to school the next day and told my dad that he did not have to come on Tuesday. Well around 4:00 a.m. Lollie came and got in bed with me and was burning up with fever. I called my dad right at 6:00 a.m. and he was there a little before 7:00 a.m. to stay with her again. He said Tuesday was a rough day. She just laid around and didn't talk much. Wednesday Me-Maw came to our house and stayed with Lollie and she perked up again. She did good all day and never ran fever. That night I took Josie to Awana. She is doing great. She has already earned around 8 patches for her vest since August. I'm so proud of her. Lollie and Joel stayed at home with Joe while we went to church. That night the weather was supposed to get bad and we were supposed to have snow. The Board of Education delayed school until 10:00 a.m., but nothing happened. School was still delayed until 10:00 a.m. so the girls came with me to work until I could take them in to school. Friday morning when I dropped the girls off Jolie's teacher Ms. Pat expressed how impressed she is with Jolie. A couple days each week a few special needs children come into their class. She said that Jolie is always so sweet with them and attentative to their needs. She said some of the other children have nothing to do with them because they are different, but Jolie is really great with them. Who knows, that may be Jolie's calling to work with special needs children. Friday Joel and Josie had check ups, Josie's 5 year, and Joel's 4 month. Both are doing great. Joel weighed 17 pounds. He is starting to talk more and if you put him on his back he flips over to his side. He is loving baby food. He loves his sisters and loves it when they talk and play with him. His little face just lights up. The girls equally love him and love help taking care of him. We are so blessed by our beautiful family.

Saturday Joe worked and got home around 2:30 p.m. That evening we went to Marvins and then we went out to eat. To pass the time while we waited for our food I looked at Josie and said "Josie I love you because" and listed several reasons why I love her. Then I looked at Jolie and did the same to her, and did the same for Joel and Joe. Josie loved this and wanted to go next. So she looked at me and said "Mommy I love you because you help people and you love everybody. The End." My heart overflowed. It is important to me that we install good Christian values into all three of our children and helping other people is a big thing to me. For Josie to realize this by my actions without me every saying "look how I help people" means so much to me. She also went around the table and told everyone else why she loved them. It was a very precious moment for me. After dinner we went to Lowes, which Joel absolutely loved. He looked around in awe and cooed the whole time. Next we went to Khols so that I could get Joel an outfit for church. While I did that Joe and the girls went to pick out my Valentines present. I was surprised to find out when I got back to the van that not only had I gotten jewelry from Joe but he also got the girls jewelry, Josie earrings, and Jolie a necklace. I was very impressed with him and thought it was super sweet.

Sunday turned out to be a much more emotional day for me than I expected. Joe worked and so I took the kids to church. Before Sunday School I was talking to the woman who handles the children during the service. At our church children help participate in the service in two ways (1) Jr. Usher to take up offering and (2) acolyting (lighting the candles before the service and putting them out at the end of the service). I mentioned that Josie was now staying in the santucary for the full service since she was five and she said she had not realized she was five. She said Josie could start training to be an acolyte and can start Jr. Ushering. She said "In fact, if she wants to Jr. Usher today, I don't have anyone yet." So I went and talked to Josie and asked her if she wanted to and she said yes. So yesterday during the service Josie was a Jr. Usher. I cried the whole time as I watched my not so little girl participate in the worship service. This is also is a big deal to me because I used to Jr. Usher in this same church as a little girl. She did a great job and I was so proud of her. I really hate that Joe missed it. She will probably start acolyting in the next year. Also each Sunday we say the Lord's Prayer. The girls have always missed it because we say it after they go to the nursery, but since Josie has started staying in for the entire serivce I have started working with both girls to learn this Prayer. Well yesterday when it was time to say it, Josie did pretty good. What words she couldn't remember she repeated after me. My face and heart beamed to hear those words out of my little girl. We didn't see Joe until 7:00 p.m. last night because he had session at 4:00 p.m. and when he was home to change clothes inbetween work and session we were all napping, but all the other elders and our preacher told him what a great job Josie had done and how they loved watching my face as well. That evening me and the girls made home-made pizzas and watched Toy Story 2. We worked on Josie's Valentines and went to bed. It was a good quiet weekend. KNOCK ON WOOD- everyone is well for now, and hopefully will stay that way.

Tonight I plan to make it a special evening for our family. We will eat a candlelit homemade dinner and enjoy our favorite people.