A Girl, A Deal with Her Dad and a Bunny

This is my oldest daughter, Melia and the furr ball in her lap is Cocoa.  Melia has been after me for a few weeks to do a photoshoot of her and her bunny.  We have another snow day today, so when Melia came down "ready" for her shoot, I just couldn't resist. 

 She is just CAH-Razy for this little creature!  She has loved bunnies ever since a dear friend's grandma gave her a stuffed bunny as a gift at her sister's baby dedication.  She was 18 months old at the time and still sleeps with that bunny every single night.

Ever since then, she has been hittin' her dad up for the real deal.  Sadly, she has always been met with a "No".  That was until a strange night near the end of September,  Melia asked again...

 "Daddy, can we get a real bunny?" 

"You can get a real bunny, when you show me that you can take care of the dog?"  (What did he just say!?!)

Rod would require 30 days of making sure the dog was fed and had fresh water, Melia made herself a chart reflecting 30 days and hung it on the refrigerator.  The days ticked by, one after another, dog fed, fresh water... check!  Four days shy of 30 I asked Rod what he was going to do when she reached the 30 day mark.

"I never  thought she would actually do it!!  Maybe I will contact the 4H group and see if there is a bunny she can go and take care of every once in a while."  I dropped it, this battle would be between a girl and her dad.  The day came and Melia was very excited to get her bunny, Rod tried back pedalling...

"I didn't say you could have a bunny..."

"You need to show me long term that you can take care of the dog..."

(I just raised me eyebrows and kept on reading my magazine.)

Melia persisted, continuing to take care of the dog and asking when she would be able to get a bunny.  It was December16th, 6 weeks after the original conversation and Rod and I were having breakfast when the subject of the bunny came up.  After talking things over for a while, Rod decided that it was more important to him to be the kind of dad that keeps his promises vs. a dad that gets his way.  I love that Rod felt it was more important to model faithfulness to his little girl over favoring his personal preferences.  It's things like this that make me realize that I am married to a truly wonderful man.

Melia and her sisters will grow up knowing they can trust the dad and that will make it easier for them to trust in their Heavenly Father as well...

And quite frankly, seeing that smile makes any bunny trouble worth while. 

Over the next 3 days I have 4 boudoir sessions planned.  I am so excited to work with each of these precious and lovely ladies.  Saturday I will be back with a 3 month old baby boy!!  So we will see where this blog takes us between now and then!!  Off to enjoy the rest of this snow day with my girlies!!