Love Is A Verb: Listening 101

Like most moms, I get about 3,872 requests from EACH child PER day. I have found myself recently just saying "no" often because I feel like my brain is already full of things I'm trouble-shooting.

A couple weeks ago, my youngest found a turtle in our yard. She was SOOOO excited, brought it in the house, and PLEADED to keep it (in her bargaining she even offered to sell her sister off...HAHA). In the midst of trying to do the "normal" things, now I was trying to figure out this turtle thing...can we keep it? What kind of work would that produce? How much would that cost? My instant reaction was NO WAY!

When I took a deep breath from the chaos I was feeling, I sat her down to "talk" and had every intention to do ALL the talking, but as we started, I decided instead, to take a moment and listen. My daughter respectfully shared that the ONE thing she's wanted was to have a pet of her own - since pretty much FOREVER. She would bring in the house lizards, lady bugs...and now this little turtle. I really had to take a moment and receive what she was telling me. My baby is growing up!!!

After talking with the hubbs about this idea - we investigated and found that little wild turtle was NOT a good idea - but took to heart what she shared. We were both so inspired by her heart, respect, and maturity - I was feeling a bit sad that I didn't see this before...how deep this desire was in her heart.

Once we made the decision & researched the best pet for her - we crossed many off the list for various reasons...

Turtle = too much work, dirty, not interactive, and carry salmonella
Rodent = if it got out, would provide our Jack Russel a fun chase, and eventually snack
Snakes or other creepy crawly = UMMM...NOT A CHANCE IN THIS WORLD!
Cat = again back to the dog wanting to torment it

So, land tortoise it was. Since making this decision to get one, I've seen such a respect from her, maturity, and responsibility. These are attributes we expect from our girls, but lately our daughter has been going through a "testing of the boundaries" time...and it's been a bit challenging - so the LAST thing we felt we should do was reward her this big. But when we listened and acknowledged her heart, her attitude and countenance lifted almost instantly. I realized a lot of it has come from us having a simple listening ear towards her heart, and believing in her as a growing young lady.

So without further adu,

introducing...Lady Strawberry

Micah's baby Red Footed Tortoise.