Three Lessons from a Visit

One of the 4-year olds spent the night this week. We had a good time checking out the spider webs in the back yard, watching two (two!) movies together (short ones -- the Focus on the Family McGee and Me series,) and carefully examining family photographs.
It's hard for a 4-year old to spend the night away from family. “I never did this before,” she told me. “Always before I had somebody else here with me.”
She was brave despite a little bit of homesickness (having Jasmine the golden lab to play with helped a lot,) and we did have fun together. After our backyard spider expedition we sat down in the swing on the big sycamore tree, only to discover that yet another spider was busy building a web from the swing to the nearest sycamore branch! (We politely encouraged that spider to build somewhere else.)
The raspberry chocolate chip ice cream was a disappointment (too much raspberry, not enough chocolate chip) so we substituted popcorn for our after dinner treat.
We visited a local used-book store as well as the local library. We brought home some books that we enjoyed, curled up together on the love seat in the living room. Now when I write her a letter and say I've just come from the bookstore or the library, she'll have an idea of where I'm talking about.
And looking at the family photographs gave her a glimpse into her mommy and daddy's lives before she was a part of them. “She's so pretty,” she said, gazing at a photograph of her mom a few years ago. I had to agree!
Our overnight together accomplished at least three good things: we got to know one another better. We had fun together. And next time, I'll be sure the ice cream is chocolate!