Princess Stella

Princess Stella in her pink tutu on Grandmom's bed - Aug. 2010

Today felt like one of those days - especially in the afternoon.  I was missing certain things about my pre-baby life:  arriving somewhere when I said I would be there, having a totally clean and organized house...that stayed that way for more than five minutes, getting one thing completely done without being distracted by another, finishing a sentence because I remembered what I wanted to say in the first place...you get the drift.  It was a really poor day for Stella nap-wise - definitely part of the reason I was feeling frazzled.  I was sitting in front of the computer feeling sorry for myself while Tim got Stella ready for an early bedtime, when I heard the whispers of Tim's bedtime stories over the baby monitor.  I found the monitor on the bookshelf and cranked it up.  What I heard brought tears to my eyes - Tim was not reading a story to Stella, but composing a story in which she was the main character; he had no idea I was listening downstairs.  I could tell that he was walking around the room with his daughter in his arms, talking about what he saw.  This is his story to Stella - almost word for word:

"...Princess Stella looked out the window of her room to see the golden leaves on the trees, the green grass in the yard, the beautiful, blue sky.  She looked in her room and saw her dog, and her blue chair, and the tapestry above her bed that says, 'You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12).'  Princess Stella was thankful for all the blessings in her life.  She said goodnight to the trees, to her dog, to the green grass, to her room, and then her mommy came up to get her and she fell fast asleep."

Needless to say, I'm not feeling very sorry for myself anymore; thank you, God.  If that's not the most beautiful bedtime story - let alone one of the most precious moments of my entire life - I don't know what is.