Bedtime

Tonight was a rushed night. The day was long and the evening was hectic. I had to go to a fundraiser dinner for Just Keep Smiling a wonderful foundation for people who are in the "valley." Please take a minute and check it out. I am sure I will post about it one day. But that isn't the reason for this little blog. I left at 5:30 with a quick kiss for the hub and the kids and ran out the door. When I got in tonight, I found my husband putting the kids to bed. My big girl wanted me to pat her since "daddy got to do it last night." Now you must understand my girl. She has a mind of her own, and since she came into being, bedtime has been a MARATHON. We pat, get drinks of water, pray, read, potty, another drink of water, more patting. Then we discovered the sleep fairy. (More on her later). Anyway, I was gearing up for a marathon patting and giggling session when she busted out with an old school thing we used to do. When she was little, I used to gently run my fingers down her face from her forehead to her chin, tracing over her eyelashes, her nose, her lips, her chin. So she looks up at me and says "do this mommy" and mimics the tracing of her features. So I began the ever so gentle tracing of her perfect nose, her perfect eyes, and then it began, that slow transition from wild as a buck 5 year old girl to sweet tired angel. Her breathing got heavy, she turned her face toward her pillow, her eyes got lazy as she struggled to keep them open, and then it happened... the thing I have loved ever since God gave me this sweet baby girl, her little lips puckered and she made that ever so soft sucking sound like she used to when she took a paci. She will read this one day when she is older and be embarrassed to know at five she still made baby sounds in her sleep, but I love it. My heart is so full of love for her. The joy I got from the feel of her soft skin under my fingers as I traced her cheeks. The way her long black eyelashes felt as I ran my fingers over her eyes, the sound of that rhythmic breathing as she sank into sleep. It was so pure. That is the only word for it. Pure. So wonderful, such a representation of the awesomeness of a God that would allow us to feel a fraction of the love that He feels for us. A pure love. Times like that, I feel so close to Him, to her, to Heaven. It truly renders me speechless - Well, maybe not speechless... I came up with this, but you know what mean. It was a bedtime blessing.