The Little Princess

One of our favorite family activities is bedtime. This is because it involves reading another chapter of the "chosen" novel. The one we finished tonight was "The Little Princess", by Frances Hodgson Burnett. We all enjoyed this novel so much that we read the final four chapters tonight just so we could find out what happened at the end.

There are many reasons why we all loved this novel so dearly. Little Sarah reminds Gavin and myself very much of our little girls, Raegan who is five, and Reece who will be turning three in March. There are also aspects of Sarah that we want the girls to aspire to be. Her character is a challenging and noble one to aspire to. Finally, this story of the little Sarah, the princess, is a beautiful story of hope, blessing and faith.

Sarah's wonderful imagination reminds us very much of Raegan. Rae has always had an amazing imagination, full of imaginary friends, tea parties, grand balls and princess life. She is very much our little princess. She loves to dance and feels the music quite impressively whether it be an opera, Nickel Creek, or "yo yo music", as she likes to refer to hip hop as.

Reece's story telling could rival Sarah's any day, I think. Reece tells the most magnificent stories. Though she is just developing this wonderful skill, she amazes us yet. The stories usually are shared over the dinner table with her beginning as so: "When I was a baby..." I always perk up my ears to hear what fanciful thing she will say. There is always some bizarre tale of something that happened to her as a baby......that never happened in reality. She tells her stories with such conviction and so convincingly you would never know otherwise, however.

One of the challenging and noble characteristics of Sarah, that we would love the girls to model themselves after, is her ability to always hope. She also carries herself with such grace and dignity, even when things completely fall apart. Before she allows herself any reaction she thinks first of how a princess would respond. One of my favorite lines, which challenges me, is when she is describing an event that occurs where a child is rude and unkind to her. She is tempted to bite back but realizes that it takes much more strength to restrain oneself than to say anything that you feel. After all, a princess would never loose control of herself.

Our girls certainly are princesses. Raegan was born one. I'm telling you she came into this world wanting high hills on her feet! I'm not a girly girl, so I can't be blamed for that one. She is constantly playing dress up and hosting lavish balls. She is a princess that can certainly learn from Sarah's example of self control.

Reece is a bulldog! She loves to start wrestle mania on our bed with who ever might be around. She even has her own signature move: The Spin Drop! But she also has this charm about her that makes you feel like the most special person on the earth. Her loving nature is a constant topic of discussion while Gavin and I lay in bed at night talking, before drifting off to sleep. She is a princess, in her own right, that can learn from Sarah's ability to hope in the midst of despair.

I'm so thankful to have this precious time with my girls each night. What a sweet gift! We'll be watching the movie "The Little Princess" together tomorrow night and then picking out our next "chosen" book. I can't wait to see how the girls like the movie. I wonder which book they'll chose next.