Build-A-Bear

Laura is such a good little artist and I want to encourage her in that area as it was always something that I loved to do with children. It is such a great way for them
to express themselves and to have something that is just theirs that they can be proud of.

Torrey and I wanted to foster her creative abilities while she was here so we wanted to take her to Made-By-Me but we also knew that she has wanted to go to Build-A-Bear for a while, so we let her pick and we figured we would make it a learning experience no matter what we did.

She decided on Build-A-Bear. That worked for us as we wanted to make something for Turner anyway. When we got there, we told her what her budget was and that she had to plan accordingly and do her math. She looked at us and said she was on vacation. We said that you never stop learning and learning can be fun and it is necessary or she wouldn't be able to get an animal.

She really struggles with math so we had to do some helping with her, but we used this experience and many other's throughout the weekend to try to make learning fun and show that it is practical and needed. Laura did a great job staying in her budget and finding things on sale (Girl after my own heart).

We did find that she didn't know her address when it came time to make the certificate so we worked with her on her address and phone numbers and explained why it is so important that she knows that. I wanted to do a little more work in this area, but we ran out of time.

Torrey and I made a bear for Turner and put in a recorded message to our special little boy. We told him that we love him and his is our special blessing from God. We then had to dress the bear and because the clothes are INSANE in cost, I opted for simple. I wanted the bear to have a hat as I hope that Turner will wear one as I love little boys in hats and Torrey wears them all the time. Then I saw some boxers and decided to go that route as it depicts Daddy and I thought it would make a cute picture of Daddy, Turner and the Bear once Turner joins us in person.

We proceeded to the name and I asked what name means blessing and Torrey pipes up with Baruch (Torrey loves Israel and the Jewish culture). I curled my nose at it, but ended up naming the bear that as it was perfect for who my husband is and what Turner will learn about in our home. I didn't tell Torrey that I had done it and he was all upset that he didn't get to help name the bear until he saw the certificate and he just about cried. We had a great time together doing that for Turner and it made Turner's arrival so much more real. Every day becomes more amazing than the day before as we realize we are getting close to when God will bring our blessing into our arms for rearing to love the Lord. We are praying daily that we will be humble servants in instructing him.