His Valentine

I think we are probably all in agreement over here that our little princess is our very own living breathing tiny sweet Valentine, but her oldest brother took that one step further this weekend.  Cooper has had it in his mind for about 2 weeks that he wanted to get Sophie Kate a Valentine bear from Build-A-Bear workshop.  We are not able to do stuff like this all time but we really wanted to do this with him and for him this time.

SK in anticipation of her first Build-A-Bear experience...

Having 3 boys, you know we needed to stop off at the food court first b/c they were "so hungry" by the time we got there.  SK waited patiently.

Decisions, decisions...

Grey letting SK hear the sound they picked to go with her bear, it says "I love you."

Our boy with his girl...

Each of the boys got to put a heart inside of SK's bear...

Cooper helping Grey give his new puppy a bath, Grey got a new pet too.  He had never been to Build-A-Bear either.

Cooper did it all, this was his thing.  He gave SK's bear a bath and then picked out the clothes and then dressed her.  What 10 year old boy would do this?  He really will do anything for her, next to her daddy, he's her hero.

All done...

 Princess bear is quite the hit with our girl, but it doesn't even come close to how she feels about her big brother.

Each time I have spoken about our oldest and the things he says and does for his baby sister, I have always followed it with how shocked or surprised I was.  Not this time, I'm not surprised at all.  This is who he is, this is his heart.  

I have been told that this life we are living with this precious girl will change our boys.  I have been told that they will learn to be so tender and compassionate toward others.  No one really wants to hear that, b/c who wants something like this to happen in their family to bring about compassion in the hearts of their children...no one;  but here we are, this has happened.  This is part of the "good" that God promises us will come out of unimaginable pain and difficulty.  This, not Build-A-Bear, but the compassion in my sons is another one of the treasures to come out of this darkness.

Isaiah 45:3 " I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel who summons you by name."

Happy Valentine's Day.  Thanks for checking in on us.