So giving

Ah, Jessa. She is quite a piece of work. She constantly challenges me and my patience (ha). She likes to save things. Things that you have no idea why. Like boxes. When I bought 1400 tootsie roll pops for our October Fundraiser at school, she became attached to a large box that held all the smaller boxes. Like death grip attached. She reminded me every day that when we were finished with it that she wanted that box. Bad. She would see us using it at school and would stare at it longingly. The day the fundraiser was over, I placed the box in the back of my car. And I forgot about it. Not Jessa, when we got home that day, the first question she asked was, "Oh, mom, where's that box you said I could have?"

So getting her to part with things is tough. I mean, the kid doesn't want to recycle a box, how can I expect her to give away a toy that she hasn't played with in 2 years? How dare I suggest such a thing! So up until this point, we have leaned more toward a sneak attack when it comes to cleaning things out. At night, under the cover of darkness, I quietly load things into the car and take them to good will while she is at school. And then, she always misses one particular thing that is no longer with us. When we move, I usually try to get rid of a few things here and there. And after we unpack 632 boxes, my Jessa realizes that she is missing a small purple unicorn. "Oh, mom, you know the one. It has a really soft white mane. We got it at Cracker Barrel on that day that we went with May and Bay. We went about 6:15 PM. Yes, I think it was raining that day." So then I have to slightly stretch the truth a tad and say, "Oh, honey, it must not have made it through the move." It is not an actual lie because it did not make it through the move. I don't have to elaborate and say it is because Mommy donated it. She always blames the movers. "Darn movers," she says.

So it is well-established, Jessa likes to keep her stuff. But after years of my convincing her to share her things that she no longer needs with others, she has had to come up with a new plan of attack. See, we actually know little boys who we can share Spencer's things with. And Spencer loves this. When he got his new bike, he was so excited to share his old one with someone else. When you are small, I think it is easier when you have a face and an actual person to attach to your donation. Jessa hasn't ever had this. So besides her being absolutely attached to everything she owns and the package that it came in, she has no face to attach to her gift. Until now.

Our sweet, smart, crafty Jessa has come up with a plan to get to keep her things AND give them away. Want to know how she did it? Well, she has decided that she wants to save her things to give to "my little girl." Yep. Isn't that a brilliant plan? I cannot criticize her for being selfish, she thinks. She is willing to clean out some things, but she wants me to save them for her children. Brilliant! And when I point out that we don't have any room to save all of these things, she says, "Oh, don't worry, we can just keep it all at May and Bay's house." HA! May and Bay are trying as hard as they can to de-clutter their house, but I am sure they wouldn't mind Jessa shipping tons of her stuff there to "save."

Recently, she wanted to share this:

Yep, it's undies.

My little gal who doesn't want to part with anything was organizing her underwear drawer and discovered these lovelies. Some of them were size 2T-3T. Get the idea about her not wanting to part with things. The child just turned 7!

I always throw away underwear that they outgrow (if I can get it out of her drawer) because no one really wants to have used underwear. But she figures her daughter will not mind wearing her old undies.

The note was on a Kleenex and there are a few misspellings, but the point is she wants to give this underwear to "my baby gril."
Isn't she sweet?

And thoughtful

She really is such a giver.