My niece, Meghan (who also happens to be my goddaughter), turned 10 over her Christmas vacation.  In celebration, I took her out for a fun afternoon.

Last year, we met over cupcakes to discuss what we thought of Anne of Green Gables.

This year, we started our afternoon of fun over lunch at Paradise Bakery.  Meghan and her twin brothers are 15 months apart in age, so she has known how to hold her own for quite some time!  We had great conversation between bites.  I got to hear all about the latest on the school front, the home front, the friend front, and field questions about anything and everything in between.

The two things that stuck out most about during our visit were Meg’s maturity and her big heart.  She shared how heartbroken she was for a classmate whose mother recently passed away.  She said that it made her realize how special her own mother is to their family and that she couldn’t imagine life without her.  We talked about different ways that she can be a good friend, and she had some very thoughtful ideas.

I was thrilled to hear her circle back to a classmate that had been acting like a bully the previous year.  Meg shared how she played peacemaker.  (Let’s call the classmate Molly.)  “I said, ‘Molly, I don’t want to fight anymore.  Can we just be friends?’  And she said, ‘Sure!’  And she’s coming to my sleepover tonight!”  I told her how proud I was of her for being so kind to someone that hadn’t been so nice to her, and I said that it was really cool of her to invite Molly to her birthday party–especially since the other girls still think she’s a bully.  Meg said, “Yeah, they don’t know that she’s nice like I do.  I’ll just change the subject and work really hard to include her tonight.”

Isn’t Meg such a doll?  I love her new glasses.

Toward the end of our meal, I gave her a little something for her birthday.  It was a prayer journal with some fun, colorful gel pens.  I had brought along my own prayer journal and showed it to her.  I talked about how I loved to journal at her age and said that it helped me to think through times when I was sad, or angry, or wasn’t sure what to do.  I said that my favorite part about keeping a prayer journal was looking back at the old entries to see how God worked in my life–especially how He didn’t answer prayers how I wanted Him to, and how it always worked out as it should have.  That got us to talking about prayer and Meg asking me how I prayed.  She was excited to hear that my prayer life mostly looked like a conversation.  We talked about different kinds of prayer, and I showed her how I used my journal.  I emphasized that a prayer journal can be whatever she wants it to be, and that it’s just for her and God.  Hopefully the conversation helped to show her that daily prayer is both normal and attractive.  It didn’t hurt that the journal had some cute butterflies on the cover!

After our lunch, we headed out to go ice skating.  I was THRILLED when Meg said that that was what she wanted to do.  I took lessons for a few years in junior high and loved it so much that I taught little ones how to skate for awhile.  I hadn’t been on the ice in a few years, so it was fun to pull out my skates.

Just like riding a bike!

Meg was a pro!  She never had a major wipeout, and there were several times that she went around the ice 5 laps without falling.  Way to go, Meg!

We had some more great conversation on the ride home, and I got Meg home in time to get ready for her big slumber party.  I’m looking forward to our next Goddaughter Day!

Question for you:

How do you connect with your Godchildren?  Meg and I are looking for another book to read together.  Any suggestions for something a 10-year-old girl would enjoy?  Fire away!