Oh to be 4 years old again! The magic and wonder of life is incredible and some moments are just priceless. My niece and nephew are still with us; they fly home this morning. A few days ago, we had each of the kids draw a name and then gave them all $10.00. With the $10.00, they were instructed to buy a gift. It was a great deal of fun. We went to the mall and a few other stores and had fun searching for the "perfect" gift. Oh, there was a bit of frustration along the way. Some of the kids had dreams of buying the "perfect" gift but when they discovered that it over their $10.00 limit, they realized they couldn't and had to keep searching. I had fun watching them try to figure it out. All of them wanted to be able to give something special. My nephew, Eli, drew Elizabeth's name. Immediately, he decided that a fish would be a good idea. We tried hard to steer him towards a small stuffed animal (something she plays with for HOURS on end), but he had it in his mind that a fish would be better. It took a little convincing, but he finally decided that he would get her the stuffed animal instead. As the day went on, I began to have a nagging feeling in my gut. I started thinking that, though this was a fun game for the kids and meant to bless the other, it wasn't about the gift at all. Eli had an opportunity to buy something he thought would be special. By us steering him the other direction, it would be our gift to Elizabeth, not his gift to her. So I started to sway him back to the fish idea. The next day, we went to a pet store and he spent a LONG time looking at fish; but still didn't find the right ones to buy. The next day, we went back. He picked out the fish and asked the lady to get them. But... believe it or not, she convinced him NOT to buy the fish. So... we turned his focus onto a hamster or gerbil. He chose a black gerbil. He was very excited. And last night, the kids were able to exchange their gifts. It was so much fun to watch them. We saved Elizabeth's until last. When she opened it up, she was silent. She sat down and watched it for a few seconds until Ri quickly sat down and put his face nearly against the cage. Ri proudly announced how cute it was to everyone. For the next few hours, the gerbil and her cage never left the sight of those 2 four year olds. They insisted on taking her to their room. Once they had her in their room, they sat and watched it. Mark listened to them while they were enjoying her. They were sitting by the bed telling the gerbil a bedtime story. Elizabeth named her Squeaky. They LOVE it! At one point, Elizabeth came running down the hallway screaming "Mom, you have to come see this". She told me "Squeaky is not a baby anymore, she is a big girl". "She got in her wheel and made it go around all by herself. She is a big girl. I am so proud of her!". Then she and I were watching Squeaky when Elizabeth looked at me and said "I love her, mom." She walked over to me and hugged me real hard and said "She's not mine, she's ours. I'll share her with my whole family because I love my family." Oh how precious is that!