Esther

I've been blessed to be able to watch a very bright 5-year-old girl a few times a week the past few months. Her name is Esther. She is the daughter of one of our friends from church. Esther's family moved from Vietnam to live here many years ago. She was born here. Her mom is a psychiatrist and is working at the hospital like crazy on odd hours shifts. One morning, she told me that her dad quit. When asked what it means, she would say, "Well, daddy yelled at my mom a lot and one day he quit." I asked her if she misses him, she said "Oh, yes I miss daddy but mommy is enough for now."

Esther speaks two languages and is fluent in both. She is a very good girl. She follows every instruction I give her. She eats everything I provide for her. She never complains. She is such a great influence to little Izzy. She also provides a very fun playmate for her. They get along very well. With Esther at our house, I discover a lot of sweetness in Izzy's personality. It is such a breath of fresh air watching little Izzy give Esther hugs and kisses from time to time. Her sweetest personality shows when she comes very close to Esther and looks at her eyes and speaks words that cannot be understood but you would know she adores her.

We will miss her. She won't be coming to our house a lot this summer because her big sister will be home to watch her now that she has a vacation from school. But Belle and I are looking forward to see her at church every Sunday morning. Oh, by the way, we've been calling Isabelle Belle more the past few months. Paul says, Belle flower a lot. I like the name Belle because it means "beautiful" in French.