The good thing about Thursdays

Back in Asia-land, Thursday nights were my absolute favorite. Me and all my lady friends chatting the night away - I usually had a coke with me that I would always forget to throw away - and loving on and praying for each other. Best night of the week, hands down.

Here in America, Thursday nights are now my girls' favorite night of the week. You see, every other thursday night, our local library has Dog Therapy time. It's billed as a non-threatening way to help your kids gain confidence in reading aloud. Emma and Samantha are there for the up-close contact with the dogs, not so much the reading...but still, it's a pretty fun gig.

Our first time to try it out was several weeks ago. They spent some very thoughtful time trying to make the perfect book selections - which stories would the dogs want to hear? which ones were too long? Finally, the selections were made and we headed through the one stoplight that separates us from the library.

Since we were a bit early, there was some waiting to be done. This is probably the only time my girls have ever played with a set of trains. The things you'll do when you're trying to pass the time...
Our library has such fun play areas for the kids - here is a puppet theater where they started creating an involved story with another little girl. There are also puzzle tables and lots of toys for kids Abby's age. Though in all honesty, Abby's favorite library activity is pulling handfuls of books right off the shelf.

She doesn't often come with us to the library.

Anyway, back to the puppet show picture:
Finally, FINALLY, it was their turn and the girls were SO excited! There were three dogs lying on their blankets with their owners next to them. Samantha chose to start with Buffy, a beautiful white dog with a super thick coat of hair.
Emma chose Sadie to start off her reading time.
It may look like Buffy is bored with Samantha's reading...
...but don't let her know that you're thinking so! She'll stare you down! This book was a My Little Pony selection.
To say that Emma was thrilled is such an understatement:

The children that signed up for the next 15-minute slot didn't show, so the girls got lots of extra time. They eventually moved to blanket #3, where Shelby the dog was. They liked her a lot - but near the end there was a bit of drama when Shelby's tail accidentally got stepped on. It all ended up ok, but there were tears on both sides - human and canine.
So Thursday nights might not be foot-massage-and-friends night, but it's such a blessing to my girls! Next thursday night, you know where we'll be!

Hmmm....actually next thursday night, we'll be at the BEACH! Woohoo! More on that to come...