What a beautiful day to spend some time with a beautiful little girl. Her smile and attitude was as bright as the sun shining down on everything. I know God made her. But He placed her in my care. So with all due respect to God, I love to call her my little girl.

Since today is the Sunday before Valentine's Day, she wanted to dress up. She wore the dress her best friend Kristen gave her. It was a velvet Christmas dress. But it looked liked a Valentine's Day dress because it had red plaid material and red velvet roses in the front around the waist. I put a small red velvet bow in her hair. While I was fixing it she asked me if she was pretty. "Yes, Ginny, your my pretty little girl but you've got to be prettier in your heart than on the outside." "Why do they say heart?" she said. "I'm not sure but it means that you've got to have a good attitude and say and do nice things." I told her.

Ginny went with me to the meeting at church. It got out early so I figured we could go get something to eat. We went to the Claremore Warehouse Market. We bought mostly junk food and a bag of marked down carrots because I had forgotten them on my regular shopping trip. Every kid deserves the right of gobbling down junk food just for fun every now and then. So that's what we did, just for fun, we went to the college and ate there. It was mostly deserted. I love to park behind the flagpole so I can look down on the city of Claremore. You can see the tower of our church at the other end of town. For a few minutes we pigged out on the plastic grocery bag full of food. Ginny got a roll of powdery donuts. She ate them, sometimes opening her mouth to talk. By the time she finished she had powder specks all over the front of her pretty dress. Then she drank some of her strawberry milk to definitely wash all that dry stuff down. On the side, she would eat some of the hot flavored Cheetos we shared. Then she asked me if she could go out on the big lawn by the pond with ducks. As she asked I studied her face. I love the little freckles that go across her nose. They get thicker as each summer passes and she has a few pretty freckles sprinkled near her hairline. I love her smile. When she really means it she'll tilt her head to the side and then smile and then sometimes she will laugh if someone like her Daddy is teasing her. Her sweet smile is just an introduction to her welcoming personality.

So I told her she could go down there. When she came back, she wanted to take her strawberry milk. I recommended she sit under the statue of the soldier so she did. Finally, it was time to go to choir practice.

Ginny and I had a nice afternoon together. I couldn't have enjoyed it any better. I thank God that the February weather was unusually warm and springlike. And I thank God for my little girl. We were able to make a fun memory.