GIRLS CAN SAVE THE WORLD

Spotted this shirt at Old Navy and wanted to buy one for every girl on the planet. Here are my girls wearing theirs on their visit with Santa.

They were on sale for $5 at the time, but they are now apparently "on sale" for $10.00 (orig. price $9.50 - odd, no?) But no matter, I'd honestly pay double.

In other news on the "Girls Can Save the World" front, many of you have been asking for an update on Petunia's American Girl charity project. Well, I am thrilled to tell you that she reached her goal of raising enough money for a doll for a child in need and then some!

Once Petunia had saved enough money for the doll, we worked hard to find a girl in our area wishing for an American Girl doll. To be honest, it was not such an easy task. Not because there are not enough girls in need, but for so many little girls, an American Girl doll is not even in their frame of reference. After all, it is a pretty big gift in our family as well. The difference being that we do have the means to purchase one on the rare occasion as a special gift. After searching quite a bit and reaching out to several different organizations, a little girl wishing for an American Girl doll appeared on the Home for Little Wanderers' wish list! This particular little girl not only described precisely the AG Just Like Me doll she is wishing for, but also specified two outfits by name that she would love to own (one or the other, she said). The fact that she was so specific with her wishes was proof positive to Petunia that she is a true American Girl fan. We had found our girl!

Armed with our list, we set off to the American Girl store and met with personal shopper Carol who was an absolute dream to shop with. She helped us pick the exact doll that was described and also led us to the outfits requested, all while treating Petunia like royalty. Petunia was thrilled to have saved enough money to purchase not only the doll, but also both outfits for the girl even though she had only requested either/or. She said that the girl would surely be happy now as she was getting even more than she asked for. I told her that this girl was going to be beyond happy with all of it, one outfit or two didn't matter. She was likely making this little girl's dreams come true. I don't know if Petunia truly understood what I meant, but the thought of it did make her smile.

After all was said and done and the present was delivered, Petunia thanked me for all of it, the trip to American Girl and the experience of delivering to the Home. I was almost speechless because this whole project truly had nothing to do with me. Sure I was the chauffeur, but this project, from beginning to end, was all about Petunia. I was the one who should thank her (and I did!) because I never would have had such a wonderful time sharing in this experience with her if one day last January, she didn't wonder what she could do for a girl not as lucky as she.

So now I need to thank all of you for asking about Petunia's progress on this venture. I was hesitant to share the completion of the project (although it's not really the end as the collection jar is already starting to fill up again), as it is sometimes a bit uncomfortable to tell the world about the best moments in your children's lives. It's often easier to commiserate about the rat race of life than the beautiful moments (why is that?) But it was with your urging that I am sharing and I hope that this will inspire others to know that girls can save the world. Will it be done with one American Girl doll at a time? I doubt it. But it's a decent start, don't you think?