A Tender Heart

We enter this weekend with Piper being minus 1 front tooth and 1 tumor on her gums and our bank account minus around $900 for the surgery she had yesterday.  Oy. Hopefully her post op follow ups at the vet tomorrow {and in 2 weeks} are included in the surgery cost...?! *fingers crossed* 

We are waiting for the biopsy results to see if she has cancer or not. 

Reaghan was very concerned when we brought her home from the vet. She wasn't too sure why her "daww" was wearing a cone on her head and why she was so sleepy and not her usual playful self. She kept sticking her face in the cone with Piper to try and figure out was going on.

Piper was fairly bummed out herself about the cone and her traumatic day at the vet so we made her a comfy bed, sat down on the floor and spent some quality time petting her. I eventually needed to get up and start dinner so I told Reaghan to let Piper sleep, gave her some books to play with and headed into the kitchen. I came back just a few minutes later and found that Reaghan had gotten her flashcards and was sharing them with her "daww". My initial reaction as I stepped in the room was to fuss at her for disobeying me and messing with Piper when I had asked her not too; I'm so glad God stopped me in my tracks. I just watched her for a moment as she quietly talked to Piper in her toddler jibberish and gently {as gentle as a toddler can be} held each card up to Piper's eyes so she she could see them before she set them down in her cone... you know, just in case Piper wanted to read them later on her own. ; ) It melted this mama's heart to see my little girl being so loving. She didn't understand why, she just knew Piper was sad, so she did the only thing she knew to do. She took something that she always enjoys doing - picking out the pictures on her flash cards - and tried to share that happiness with Piper. Unfortunately {thankfully?!} Piper was a little too out of it to fully appreciate Reaghan's gestures. ; ) But wow, what a joy to witness this pure and innocent sweetness... 

Oh sweet girl... I hope you always have this compassion. I pray you always see the sad and hurting and want to give of yourself to help. Oh, that you would keep your tender heart and always show this same kindness to those around you.

I'm thankful God gave me eyes to see what was transpiring so I could avoid responding too harshly. This last picture is her "uh oh! mom caught me!" face. Although she did need to be corrected for her disobedience of being near Piper when I asked her not to, I didn't want her to think her actions of love towards Piper were wrong. My prayer as a parent is that I would always have eyes to see the situation clearly before reacting and just handing out discipline. I want to tie her heart strings closely to mine and not cause any hardness or squelch her spirit, especially as she continues to grow older.

 Oh that God would grant me the wisdom to nurture this precious girl and her sensitive heart.