Unselfish Gratefulness

I'm always learning new things from Riley, our four year old.  I learn that a dog can change her name from Aubrey to Sequin just because it's time for a new name.  And that you can never wear too many outfits in the same day.  And that there is no better animal in the world than a horse.

Jeremy went into work today and was given two huge garbage bags stuffed with clothes, shoes, rollerblades, and books.  Everything in the bags is for our niece Madison who is living with us and what a total blessing it was.  We couldn't believe the amount of cool clothing (and most of it never worn before) and items that were in the bags.  And this is after two other families and given some clothing for Madi in the past few weeks!

Jeremy got home and the girls and I went through the bags admiring everything before dinner.  Madi was jumping up and down and very excited.  I was just in awe at what had been given and how awesome it was that a friend would do this for us.  So many cute things.

We had wondered how Riley would deal with it.  After all, there was not a single item in the bags for her.  Not a single thing that would fit her or would fit her for a long, long time.  And we have never purchased this many items or given her this amount of stuff ever at one time.  So we were curious to see how she'd do.  And what she'd ask.

At first, she took out items, showed them to Madison and would say "oooohhhh this is sooo cute!"  or "I wove it Madi!  Wook!  Cute shoes for you!"  Then she put her bunny or doggie in a rollerblade and would push it around the kitchen.  She was completely content to play with a few things, try on a few shoes and always give them right back to Madi.

The most interesting part was the talk at dinner.  We were sharing our favorite parts of the day.  We said that we could probably guess Madi's favorite part - to which she totally grinned and gave a thumbs-up.  Riley wanted to share her favorite part so she said "My best part of the day was when Daddy brought home all of the clothes and things and shoes for Madisen.  That was was my best part."  She later added that she also had other favorite parts and that they were that we were all eating dinner together at the table and that Madi got all her new stuff.


We were so impressed with our little girl.  She could have responded by getting jealous or mad that she didn't get anything.  Not once did she ever ask if any of it was for her or if we brought her something or why there wasn't something for her.  She didn't throw a fit. She was simply thankful that her cousin was able to get lots of nice things.  And that was her favorite part of the day.  


Today I learned that Riley has a huge, huge heart that is bigger than we even knew.  We sure do love her.

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