2018 — Page 38

Summer

Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.

Henry James

The kids hung the birdhouses they painted all around the yard. This one is Tess’s .

This one is Caroline’s and she put a lot of effort into getting hers up there.

Bethany hung hers down near the outdoor kitchen so she could see it while they cooked.

Filed Under: summer

The Dolls

Since Bethany had such a long visit at the hospital on Monday, I had told her if we had time I would take her to the doll store on the way home. When it was time to leave I was trying to decide if it was too late to stop by the doll store, but then I realized they were closed on Mondays anyway. So, I promised Bethany that we would go another day.

Friday happened to be an easy day for us and we had no doctor appointments so I decided it was the day we could go look at dolls. Instead of the store we had planned to go to, I told Bethany there was a doll shop closer to us and it was full of dolls and stuffed animals. The dolls in this store are mostly collector dolls and not something we would buy — though there are a few in our budget. Bethany was thrilled and agreed to try the new store. I let her know that this was a look only trip — we would not be buying dolls.

She loved the store. It was full of beautiful dolls and all kinds of stuffed animals. Some of the dolls were absolutely amazing and so beautiful. Bethany and I both love dolls so it was a nice time together. The owner of the store talked to Bethany and even let Bethany look in her office at all the dolls there. Bethany was loving this. Then all of a sudden the owner told Bethany she was going to give her a doll and for Bethany to wait in her office. She left and came back with not one doll, but two! They were adorable and both even had a story book to go with them. Bethany was so excited and I could not believe she was given two dolls. I have no idea why the owner was so kind, but it sure made Bethany’s day and mine, too. When you spend three hours a day doing PT treatments and get 6 nebulizer treatments along with other forms of therapy and an inhaler, and take approximately 35 pills a day it can be hard. So many times the kids are outside playing and Bethany is sitting on her vest. I try to give her interesting things to do and games to play and art supplies, but sometimes she just wants to go out with everybody else. So when she was given two dolls on Friday it made me so happy that she was given such wonderful gift for absolutely no reason except kindness. It was such a blessing and she was so happy. She could not wait to get home and open up both dolls. They really are cute and we read the books and now they are on her bed with all her other dolls. Sometimes when someone does something nice it means more than they can even know.

Just wanted to add one picture that has nothing to do with this. Yesterday, my grandson turned 3 and he had his party at our house. He was so excited and cute. I haven’t really even gone through the pictures, but did pull one out of him with his balloons – he absolutely loves balloons. So, happy birthday, Asher, and hope your day was great.