1 on 1 with Ellie

This morning Ellie and I started what I hope will be a tradition. We both got up this morning at 6 so that we could have some time together, just the 2 of us. Ellie has been asking for this for awhile in some form or another. She initially was asking if she could go out for breakfast with just me since she does this with Dan. However, that was logistically difficult since we don't really have that many free Saturday mornings and if we threw it into the rotation of Dan taking Ellie, Kara and Darin out for breakfast, then they would have less time with Dan. So we decided that instead of doing breakfast, Ellie and I would just have some alone time at home. She already usually gets up at 6 to start her schoolwork so we just decided that one morning a week, instead of doing schoolwork, she would come upstairs and we would discuss whatever was on her mind.

She has been having lots of questions lately about growing up, body changes, etc. so we are going through the book "What's the big deal? Why God cares about s*x." It is the 3rd book in a series called "God's Design for S*x" put out by Navpress. Jay and Emily gave us the set awhile back when we watched their kids while they went to a Family Life Marriage Conference.

It was a sweet time this morning and I'm glad we have finally started doing it. I hope that we will be able to continue it and that she will be a willing participant throughout her teenage years. I am also hoping it will help to avoid the tumultuous teen years I experienced. Plus, she's such a sweet girl and she really likes to spend time with her mommy. :-)