Cracker Barrel, signing and a bear

On Brian's day off, we try to have breakfast together somewhere, and today happened to be Cracker Barrel. (We had to fortify ourselves before the major Christmas shopping we had to undertake.) As we were waiting for our healthy (ahem) southern breakfast fare, a sweet woman behind us got Brian's attention. She is completely deaf, and saw me using signs with Gracie, so she was asking about our situation.

*brag alert*
Miss Gracie knows close to 100 signs now, and soaks up new words every day.
Brian & I are having a tough time keeping up w/ her as she picks up signing so
quickly from her speech therapist & signing dvds!
*bragging over*

Anyway...I fumbled with my limited signing as we got to know this dear lady who was there w/ her infant grandson. (I seriously need to spend more time learning for Gracie's sake, and for future situations like this!)

As we were eating, a couple came up to our table & asked how long we've had Gracie. They adopted their now 12 year old daughter from Guatemala when she was 18 months old. They saw Gracie & had gone to the gift shop to buy her a bear and asked if they could give it to her. Um, yeah, such a sweet encounter! Now, Gracie isn't too fond of stuffed animals, but she loves that bear! He is wearing a shirt that says"Jesus Loves Me", and it sings the song also. I love being on the receiving end of random acts of kindness, and it definitely pushes me to be more aware of situations where I can be a light to someone else.

On two totally random notes...
Gracie slept through the night for the
first time in over a week last night...Woot Woot!

*another brag alert*

Our sweet Ali kicked some major bee-hind today in a
debate on stem cell research in her biology class. God has given her such
a gift, and we are so proud.

She's Judge Judy in Laura Ingalls clothes!

Gracie Shu w/ her new bear