Sweet. S-W-E-E-T. Sweet.

Of all the kids in the world, I have the sweetest. My Olivia is probably one of the sweetest hearted PEOPLE I know much less children. Since she was a tiny child she's been so tender hearted. She's just got this giant sweet heart that wants to help. Her life goal is to be an animal rescuer some day just so she can help hurting animals. She's the first on the scene if someone in our house is hurt. She's just so SWEET!

Now, sometimes being tender is a good thing, but sometimes it can be tough. It means that she cries about just about anything. She cries at sad movies. She cries when she's heard a song that reminds her of "paapaa." She cries when she's happy. She cries when she gets in trouble. She's a crier! It is, on occasion, annoying and somewhat hard to deal with. Especially for me, a fellow crier!=)

Today Olivia took part in her first spelling bee. She was so nervous, but also excited for the adventure of something new with several of her friends. When she got up to the mic she adjusted it for her height, took a deep breath, and waited for her word. She was given the word "dust." A word that she could, on any other day spell correctly, and spelled "dest." After it came out of her mouth she looked up knowing she'd misspelled the word and came running down to us with sobs. Poor little dear. She was just so broken hearted and let down that she wouldn't get the chance to spell it RIGHT. She was worried we'd be upset that she spelled it wrong. I told her that getting up there and trying something for the first time made me very proud. She quickly perked up and was ready to go back in and cheer on her friends. 

I'm so thankful for my sweet Olivia and glad she's a part of our family.

If you'd like to pray for our sweet Olivia you can pray that God would fill her with more and more tenderness. I have been praying that God will help her guard her heart, but still be able to share her heart. That, unlike myself, she wouldn't see this as a weakness, but a gift that God has given her to share with others.