An Almost Perfect Weekend

This weekend had all the components of a great weekend which was unexpected since V. was not home.  Yesterday I surprised I. with a morning date with me by ourselves to go see the movie, Chimpanzee.  It was the kind of movie that she and I love and love it we did.  It resulted in much snuggling during the movie and it was really good to just be out with my baby girl.  In the afternoon, we kept with our normal routine and went to   a restaurant, Mexican since it was Cinco de Mayo, and enjoyed our early dinner.

I. has been wanting a BBQ for awhile now but the weather has not been cooperating but I knew this weekend it would be.  So this morning, after washing my hair which is still a big deal these days, we ran over to Trader Joe's in search of BBQ things.  Since I. is not a big meat eater at all, this can be a challenge.  We found some chicken sausage with apples and maple syrup (how perfect is that?), picked up some chicken breasts for kebobs, and to splurge grabbed some tortilla chips and guacamole.  Once we got home, we had lunch and then had plenty of time to hang out on the ground playing with D. which was a real treat.  After I got D. down for his nap, I still felt pretty energetic since the morning was pretty relaxed so I. and I went outside to play with a card making craft that my mom had gotten her a couple of weeks ago.  We made cards for each other and she made one for my parents, as well as baby bear.  You've gotta love that.

Once D. got up it was time for BBQ preparation.  I was a little concerned because I am not the BBQer of the family and so my confidence in my skills is not high.  But I had a good attitude and figured out the timing of things so at least I had some clue.  I am very proud of myself - I had both sides of the grill going, chicken breast, chicken kebobs, and chicken sausage on one side and on the other side, I was grilling pineapple.  Pretty impressive, huh?  I got D.'s dinner ready and once everything was on the grill, we all went outside to the patio.  As the food cooked, we snacked on the chips and guacamole and then once dinner was ready, I. proceeded to eat all the sausage and chicken with pineapple.  She was a happy camper and so was I.  D. was happy to be outside with us eating his food as well.  Dinner nirvana.

Bathtime, reading, and bedtime went without a hitch and I. was asleep within 15 minutes.  D. was asleep 5 minutes after that.  The other wonderful thing was that I found out something about I.  For the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about talking to her about accepting Jesus into her heart.  She loves God and loves learning about him.  I wanted her to be old enough to decide for herself, not to do it before she understood or because she thought I wanted her to do it (that would just make her not want to do it probably!).  I had contemporary Christian music on all afternoon which was a change and while I was prepping for the BBQ, she came in the kitchen and made mention that all these songs had to do with God.  I told her this was a Christian station and that all of the songs had to do with God and Jesus.  I can't recall exactly how it came about but I said something about asking Jesus into your heart and she replied, "I know that Mommy."  I said, "Oh?" remembering that this child was emotionally constipated just like her father so there was probably a lot more to this than met the human eye....the whole key was going to be asking the correct, direct question.  I paused and then said, "Have you asked Jesus into your heart?"  She said yes and then proceeded to dart behind me and that's how we completed the rest of the conversation, her face buried in my butt.  It boiled down after many questions to the fact that she asked Jesus into her heart and to forgive her sins sometime in the month of April after I put her to bed.  And that makes me so happy, and thankful, and tearful.  My baby girl did it on her own, not swept up in emotion or because other people were doing it but because she in her heart, at a quiet time, had been thinking about it (knowing her) and prayed privately and quietly.

An almost perfect weekend - the only part that made it not 100% perfect is that V. wasn't here.  But that is a short term issue completely overshadowed by an eternal decision.