Where Angels Fear to Tread

One part of my first prayers for Jun was that she would love others and accept their love for her. And, God and Jun have answered that prayer many times.

Like the "strange" old men sitting across from us on the train the other day. Whom I had ignored very well for the duration of the ride. Whom Jun waved "good-bye" to quite cheerfully. Who gave her the sweetest smiles and waves back. Their whole faces and demeanor changed when Jun showed a little love.

Then the plumber came a few times this last month to work on leaks in the kitchen. Glad we rent. Anyway, the contractor guy is really friendly and always chats with Jun, however the plumber is an older man and "all business." So, I tried to keep Jun out of his hair. Jun doesn't understand that she COULD be in someone's hair. She is sure they want to be around her as much as she wants to be around them. And...by the time the plumbing was fixed, the plumber and her were the best of friends and Jun was calling him "grandpa" in Japanese. (Which is common for us to do with older men, especially if we didn't catch their names, but...it was still quite cute as she yelled "Bye bye ojiisan" from the window.)

And today we went to my friends' Dad's Christmas party. It is for men and women who have had a stroke, and some of their family members. Jun was very helpful and also very "helpful". She's 3, you know. But at the end I asked her to give our friend's Dad a good-bye hug, and she hugged him and then climbed up on the couch to give him a couple of kisses. Then she ran around telling everyone "Happy New Year" in Japanese and bowing. Melted many more hearts today.

Thank you, Lord, for my little girl! Of course life is not ALL smiles, and we had a few bouts of exhausted tears today too, but...it was a good day!