Vivienne has been fighting a nasty cold for the past couple of days. Despite her congestion and hoarse voice, she has been a darling. We’ve taken it easy for most of the days, but I’ve tried to get us out of the house for a little bit each day.

One day, we went to the Dollar Store in search of gifts for our Operation Christmas Child. (When V finally comprehended that we were shopping for a little girl and had to fit everything into the teeny plastic container and couldn’t send, oh, say, large turquoise serving trays across the globe, we discovered so many precious little treasures.) Vivienne found a pack of three colorful bracelets that she wanted. We decided to send two of the bracelets to the little girl (one for the little girl; one for the baby doll snugly tucked inside the box) and one for Vivienne to remember the little girl. For the past two days, this bracelet has been V’s pride and joy; you’ll see it displayed in the photo.

We talked and prayed a lot about generosity as Vivienne agreed to give a little container of green play-doh that she had received on trick-or-treat night. (It’s amazing how valuable a blob of green dough will appear when we are faced with the challenge of giving it away…) Truly, I only wanted her to include the play-doh if she could rejoice about it in her heart.  In regard to generosity, Ryan and I have aimed to live and teach 2 Corinthians 9:7,  “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” I knew that a blessing of great joy was at stake here, so I was praying that Vivienne would experience the joy of giving our treasures away in the name of Jesus.  As it turns out, God granted my request and gave her a joyful and generous spirit. Take a look!

Tonight, as we listened to some of the old classic CDs that we’re importing into our computer (talk about lost treasures!) and Ryan danced around to some gorgeous Benny Goodman, we made chocolate chip cookies.

Not only was Vivienne wearing an ugly (there’s really no better word) vellore jumpsuit with a horse and brown fringes on the sides, but she was also shoveling the flour from the counter into her mouth as if I never feed her… It’s kinda cute to have a little ragamuffin every once in a while.