Ellie graduates from The J

Tuesday evening we attended Ellie's Pre-K Celebration as she finished out her year at the JCC and heads to kindergarten. It was bittersweet. The JCC has helped me raise this precious little girl for the last five years. She started there when she was only 8 weeks old with Ms. Anna and Mrs. Annette. She was this sweet, little baby who grew into a little chunk and then on to this long, legged, slim young lady with deep dimples and a smile that brightens a room.

While the JCC is a Jewish Day Care, they laid many of her biblical foundations, taught her how to pray before meals (albeit it is in Hebrew), and fed her with the stories that she still asks to read about in her Bible at night. She learned how to be a friend and how to love her friends well. She even created her own Musketeer group that plans to save the world (at present it leaves no time for college or marriage, per Ellie), but still a noble calling I believe.

We will especially miss Miss Sondra, who has cared for Ellie and Katelyn in aftercare. To meet this woman is to know love and genuine joy. In my five years at the JCC, I have never seen her with anything but a smile on her face, constantly encouraging others, greeting every parent and sibling by name. She is always quick with a kind word, compliment, or just asking how your day is going. She displays such a joy of just being with our children every day, even when we are thinking of pulling our hair out with them she always finds the best. Words cannot express the kind disposition of this woman and how much I would love to have one tenth of her spirit.

So thank you JCC for helping me to raise my girls to be the young ladies they are and starting Owen on the right path as he also heads to CPA this fall.  I've also included some clips from the Pre-K performance. You can't watch the little monkeys without smiling.

Five Little Monkey Video