Gift Giver

Justice is our gift giver. :) If you’ve ever read the book ‘The Five Love Languages’ you will know that one way people feel love is by receiving gifts. Well, we’ve learned that one way Justice shows his love is by giving gifts.

Justice has had a good chunk of money saved up from the past few months – Jake’s parents always send the kids money for their piggy banks on holidays like Valentines and Easter. Plus he had won a few dollars here and there at the gym with shooting contests that the kids sometimes do for fun in between practices. Then there are the random dollars that he’s gotten on the tournament trips – like he’s talked the high school boys into paying him a dollar if he stands on their back to crack their backs. :) So, he’s been saving up this money, and the last I knew he had his eye on a butterfly habitat/house that they are selling at Target right now. Justice is really into catching butterflies and he wants to be able to keep them and observe them. He had been deciding if he wanted to spend his money on that, or keep saving. Last week at school the book fair was in town – we saw the slip of paper come home but it was forgotten about under the pile on the counter. A few days later at the end of last week Justice came home with surprise gifts for JJ and Jayla – posters that he had gotten for them at the book fair – using his own money! :)

 

He hadn’t even asked Jake or I for any money for the fair…..and I think that is what makes these gifts feel even more special. For JJ and Jayla to see that their big brother would use his own money, on gifts that he didn’t have to get them is pretty cool. But the better part was seeing Justice’s smiling face after JJ and Jayla were so happy and chattering about their surprise posters (and Jayla showed her poster to everybody who walked in our front door over the next few days)! I know Justice loves the feeling of giving.

Then Friday rolled around and Justice brought out those wrapped presents for Jayla and I. Once Jake told me that he hadn’t taken him shopping I knew he must have somehow gotten us something during school hours, and again with all his own money since Jake hadn’t given him any and he hadn’t asked Jake for any! I tried to get information out of Justice but he just smiled and wouldn’t dish his secret! A little while later I recalled that the school was also having their ‘elephant sale’ this past week. Last year it was more like a garage sale, where everyone brought items to sell and money to purchase things. But this year they had new items on the sale. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was how he got the gifts wrapped so nicely – we didn’t have the polka dot wrapping paper at our house.

Well, that question got answered on Saturday at one of Justice’s basketball games. His teacher came to watch him play in the tournament and as we talked she brought up the gifts. She said he was so excited about buying the gifts at the elephant sale, but then became distressed about how he was going to get them wrapped. His teacher said that, “his heart was so genuine about it all that I told him I would take them home and wrap them and bring them back the next day for him.” So she did. And here are the perfect little gifts he picked out and bought for Jayla’s birthday all by himself and with his own money:

 

Stuffed animal puppy dogs and bears (really nice, brand new TY ones – one of which she took along in her bike basket for her first ride around the town), a coin purse, and a stocking cap. :) And here is the card he gave to her:

 

And you saw my Mother’s Day gift yesterday, but here is the card he gave me:

 

I thought it was SO SWEET that he took the time to give us cards (I don’t even normally give cards with gifts!) and I loved his little handwritten notes and add-ins on the inside! After we had opened our gifts I asked him where he had gotten the cards from. He said that at the elephant sale he had purchased a big box of different types of cards all for $1 – which explains why my Mother’s Day card was a birthday wish. :) Love it! Eventually I asked Justice if within all this shopping he had gotten anything for himself. And, yes, he had…..there was one little treasure that had caught his eye, and after putting everyone else’s gifts first, he had just enough money left for it…..

:)