Diamonds are a girls best friend!

The parable of the bicycle by Stephen E. Robinson has always been one of my favorite analagies of the atonement. We have a storybook version that Pantera had me read to her the other night. It is about a little girl who wants a bike really bad and asks her dad for one. He tells her to save her money for it, figuring it was just a phase. The next couple of weeks he notices her doing extra chores around the house and saving every penny. She finally tells her dad that she is ready to go pick out a bike and they head to the store. She sees the bike of her dreams but starts sobbing when she looks at the price tag because she will never have enough to buy it. Her dad makes her the offer "give me all that you have plus a hug and a kiss and the bicycle is yours." It shows us how we can never pay the price for sin without the Savior and how little he really asks of us in return.

I cry everytime I read this and out loud to Pantera was no exception. After I closed the book, she looks at me and says "Mom, I want a bike." I tell her "That little girl worked hard and saved up her money, maybe you can start earning money around the house so you can buy one." She says "I don't have enough money, you can buy it for me." I am so glad that she learned so much from the story!

Despite her efforts to get us to pay for it now, I have actually started an allowance system for her. If she pees in the potty she gets a dime (she totally started wetting herself again last week, ugh!), if she poops in the potty she gets two dimes. But she doesn't call them dimes, so every time she uses the bathroom she says "Mom, I did it. I need a diamond!"