Giving and Receiving

Spenser had a great birthday. (Thank you for all of your birthday wishes.) She was quite spoiled the entire day from sun up to sun down. We had a small party for her on Friday night and at the end of the night she said her favorite thing was gum. Go figure.

Our oldest son, Taylor, who had gone on a field trip on Friday, bought her (with his souvenir money) a "Wilbur." I thought it was incredibly thoughtful of him (and was saddened that he didn't buy anything for himself).

My mother's birthday was Sunday, so we put together a gift for her. We gave her some gourmet chocolate-covered pretzels, a box of Toffifay, a Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer, a linen change purse and a necklace.

I even splurged and used my Japanese fabric. (I'm getting braver these days.)

And Friday I received a lovely, patchworked, quilted bag from Amanda Jean. She was having a 200th post giveaway and, out of 376 comments, I won! Me! Thank you, again, Amanda Jean. I love it!!! I am now the very proud owner of two great fall bags! Lucky, lucky me!

'Tis the seasoning of giving. We have been trying to instill in our children the gift of giving and service. We started Operation Service a few weeks ago with hope that our children will learn to give more freely and lovingly. This weekend was no exception. We delivered two meals, in which the children helped deliver. They are still just as happy and eager to deliver the meals as they were a month ago when we started. And Taylor's thoughtful gift to Spenser was really beyond what I would have expected a ten-year-old boy to do. I think they're finally getting it.