Date Night!

I love shopping for my grandsons on their birthdays!

I try to find a special gift for their birthdays…something that they will love!

This year I purchased three gifts to give to Hudson at his birthday party…and a gift that allowed us to do something together!

As Hudson opened his first gift from another family member…my heart sank!  It was a Fisher Price Doodle Board…the exact same gift that I had purchased for him!

Hudson loves to draw, so I thought it would be perfect!

Hudson chose to open the gifts from Papa and me next and of course…the first gift he opened from us was the Doodle Board! 

He was so sweet…telling everyone that his younger brother, Beau, could use this one!

Hudson is also a huge Star Wars fan, so our second gift was for a Star Wars Lego set!

When he opened that gift, I learned that his friend had given him the same set a few nights earlier!

I was failing miserably at giving Hudson something special this year!

He did like the shorts and shirt I gave him, so finally…a present that worked!

His last gift provided Hudson an opportunity to choose a fun thing to do…a visit to Sky Zone or Dinner and movie with us! 

As Hudson was asking questions about Sky Zone, Jay and Tori leaned over and said they had gotten him a gift card to there as well!

And when Hudson finally opened his gift to Sky Zone from Uncle Jay and Aunt Tori…he was so sweet, stating that he could visit Sky Zone twice now!

At the end of his party, I told Hudson that I would return the duplicate gifts and take him shopping to pick out something else!

So, this past Tuesday, I picked Hudson up for our shopping date!

He was quite excited when I arrived at his house!

We headed to Target…and seriously…we spent over an hour going up and down the toy aisles!

We looked at several items in each aisle!

Hudson would pick up a toy…look at it…often saying…”I’ll think about this particular toy…but I want to keep looking.”  He was very thorough as we shopped.

Often, Hudson would pick up a toy…hold it for a bit…and then decide…this wasn’t the right gift and return it back to the shelf!

One time he mentioned…I already have something similar…that would be wasteful!

I was so blessed to watch him as he carefully considered all of his options!

After much consideration…Hudson decided that I would order him a Kylo Ren costume – Star Wars (none could be found at Target this time of year), which was something he really wanted!

And after examining all of the Lego sets thoroughly, Hudson chose a camping Lego set!

Before making the purchases, I asked Hudson if he was absolutely sure he had gotten exactly what he wanted for his birthday!  And he assured me that he loved his gifts!

Shopping was followed by dinner and Hudson got to choose the restaurant!

As we were passing Olive Garden, Hudson exampled…”I want to eat there…I love Olive Garden”!

I love Olive Garden too…so it was a great choice!

As we were being seated in our booth, Hudson said…”Sit by me Gammy”, so we snuggled together on the same side of the booth!

As you can imagine…my heart was bursting with joy as I shared this one-on-one time with my oldest grandson!

After placing our orders, Hudson began to color the children’s menu! 

And then we noticed that we could play games on this electronic device on the table and compete with other guests at the restaurant!

There were a variety of categories to choose from…Pets, Super Bowl, Ads and Slogans, and a few others!

We chose Pets first and came in third after that round!

Hudson chose Super Bowl next…and I basically let him guess each answer…I was pretty clueless as to which answer would be correct!

We chose Ads and Slogans next…and I got a little excited…I knew some of these!

For example…Blank….take me away!

Who doesn’t know that answer…Calgon!

I am happy to share…we wound two rounds of these category!

Dinner finally ended and we headed home!

I could tell Hudson was getting sleepy as we headed home…so I lot him Facetime with Papa on our ride home.

He was excited to tell his daddy all about our date when we arrived home (Bekah was at meeting when we got there)!

However, I did call her the next day to tell her how much fun I had with Hudson on our date!

And then Bekah shared the following sweet story…

When Hudson arrived from school, she told him that they could work on his Valentine Day cards for a little bit because Gammy was coming to take him shopping!

Hudson asked…”Gammy is taking me shopping tonight”!

And then Hudson told his mom…”When I was at school today…I just felt in my heart that something special was going to happen tonight”!

“That something special must be Gammy coming to get me!”

Bekah said…”I think you’re right”!

As Bekah shared this story…my heart melted!

It made our date night even that more special!

As I thought about our special time together…all I could think of was this…

God is love…1 John 4:8.

I think of how much I love all of my children…my grandchildren…

And yet God loves us so much more!

I think it is difficult for each of us to truly grasp how deeply God loves us!

Love is not just one of God’s attributes…it’s who HE is!

There is nothing we can do to cause God to love us…

And there is nothing we can do to prevent God from loving us!

God loves us because that is who He is…GOD IS LOVE!

Though I may never fully comprehend Gods love…I have to believe…as I share time with these precious grandsons...I might just have a little taste of God’s love!

Dear Heavenly Father…thank you for loving us unconditionally!  Thank you helping us to love others just as you love us!  Thank you for being who YOU are…Love!