Jim Dates Other Women

Jim has made a practice of dating his daughters from they time they were very small (he started taking Grace out for special "Daddy Dates" when she was about one). Maybe they'll go to the library, a movie, McDonald's, or out for bagels but, whatever they do, it's of course a favorite activity for them. In a family like ours, getting one-on-one time is really important. Last week Patie got a gift of $5.00 in the mail from her Great Grandma for her birthday present. I asked her what she wanted to do with it and right away she said she wanted to take Daddy on a date to get Icees. (Am I spelling that right? How am I supposed to spell it??) She called him at work and asked him if he wanted to go on a date with her. Of course he said yes. As she was talking to him I heard her excitedly say, "Then I'm going to give it to people that don't have food!" After she hung up I asked her what she had talked to Daddy about. Apparently she had told Daddy that after their Icees, she wanted to give the rest of her money to the "people who don't have food, or houses, or drinks." She wanted to give the rest of her birthday money to the Salvation Army- how precious is that? Patie's always been our "helper" child, the one who sees needs and tries to fill them- we are so thankful for the way the Lord is growing her heart to give to and bless others. So, Friday night Patie took Daddy out for some Icees, and then they walked the mall. There wasn't a bell ringer at Target, so she had to save her money and she'll give it next time we see one- she is so excited about it. Here's a picture of her blue Icee face when they got home.

Grace came along with me last night for some time out shopping just the two of us. We shopped

for a couple of hours, then she had wanted to go to Bully Blends for some hot chocolate.

We left the mall right at dinner time and she loves Chili's (hot cinnamon apples...) so I asked if she would rather do that- of course that sounded great to her. We always have a lot of fun when we go out to do girl stuff together. She made lots of comments about how much she loves to shop with me, that it's fun to do stuff "just Mom and me" and how much less time it takes to do things when we don't have everyone else with us. Ha! No kidding!