When God said "Yes!"

Early in December, Elli began to get excited to turn 4. At one point, she told me that she wanted snow for her birthday. Such a sweet and simple request, but of course I had to explain that only God can control the weather. We prayed to God and asked him for snow, and then had a conversation about how sometimes God says "yes" to our prayers, but sometimes he says "no" or "not right now," but that he knows best, so we just have to trust him. She seemed to grasp that, and then I was sort of relieved when a few weeks went by without it coming up again.

As we drove into Daniel's hometown, two days before her birthday, we were all delighted to see a bit of snow on the ground. (I guess this makes us Texans, because we got pretty excited about the remnants of a dusting.) But Elli's reaction thrilled us even more.

"Mommy," she exclaimed, "God said 'Yes!' " 

 What was so sweet and beautiful about that moment was that Elli saw first hand how much her Father cares for her heart's desires, even her birthday wishes. She learned that the Lord hears her prayers and sometimes, he says, "Yes!"

Days later, she got to experience a beautiful snowfall, and all the wonders of a winter's day.

Elli shared her "birthday gift" (and her shoes) with her little sister, who was absolutely giddy and did not want to come inside for her nap!

Of course we had to make a snowman.

Putting his eyes on with Grandpa.

Yup, Daniel gave our snowman a mustache. 

I think this might actually be Elli's first snowball fight.  She is hooked.

What a perfect, wintry day! I'm so thankful that God said, "Yes!" to my favorite little 4-year-old!