4
Puppy Love
Grab
Money
Car keys
Camera
Go
Travel to your local pet store. Have a great time exploring the different departments. Check out the dogs and cats, the turtles and lizards, the hamsters and parakeets, and the tanks of fish. Allow your daughter to take pictures of the animals she thinks are cute or funny. Observe the animals together and ask your daughter if any of them seem nervous. Do some of them seem sad or bored? Cute and friendly? Aggressive? Shy? Talk with the staff, if possible, about where the various animals come from and which are their favorites to care for.
Grow
When you’re done with your visit for the day, make your way to a toy store so your daughter can “adopt” a new stuffed animal as a keepsake of your time together.
It is hard to imagine the feeling of being all alone in the world. Your daughter has a place where she belongs—in your heart and home. Ask her how she thinks it would feel to be an animal in a pet store, in an unfamiliar place with loud noises, odd smells, and strangers all around her.
The Bible says that before we know Christ we are lost too. We don’t have hope or any certainty about the future. But out of God’s amazing love he adopts us and calls us his children. We have a wonderful Father who never lets us go and promises a forever home for us. Doesn’t it feel good to know that we belong to a Father like that, and have an amazing home in heaven to look forward to?
Read these verses together:
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 John 3:1 ESV)
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27–29 ESV)
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Ps. 23:6 ESV)
Thank you for adopting us into your family. Thank you for loving us and calling us your children. We are so excited about having a home with you forever! Thank you for creating the special animals we saw today. Please give them new owners who will love them and take good care of them. Watch over each one and keep them safe. Amen!