A Treasured Gift

For kids who come from hard places, times like Christmas can be difficult. Not only is it a time when the chaos and craziness that often comes with the change from routine can be dysregulating - throwing sensitive emotions and bodies off-balance - but for those who have never had "things" of their own, it is easy to slip into a "mine mine mine" mentality.

The girls and I went to see Santa and Mrs. Claus when they were at Chick-fil-A. Olivia wrote him a letter, but wouldn't let me see it. Santa and I have a mutual friend who clued me in on a few things. This morning I opened this big pillow with my very big face on it. The label read, "To Jennifer Love, HoHoHo". Olivia immediately squealed when she saw it. "Mommy! My #1 Christmas wish came true! The thing I wanted most was for Santa to bring you a big pillow with our family on it! I didn't care about the other things, only this! And he did it!"

My precious girl has the most precious heart! She is working through/processing some of the big things she has experienced, but she through it all she is full of tender love and compassion. Watch out, world! Olivia is coming and is going to do great things! And as she reminded us this morning, "It isn't really about the presents, it's about Jesus!"