volunteering

We volunteered to be a part of a research study at the Children's Hospital here in Calgary. 
It's kind of a unique opportunity that my homeschool facilitator told me about - & so on a whim, i phoned the powers that be & said, "sign us up."
It involves a phone interview and 4 sessions at the children's hospital.  Because it's a genetic study, Neil & i plus our sweet little guinea pig Sparkling Eyed One - will all have to give a blood sample & she'll have to have an mri. 
Sparkling Eyed One thinks it's probably the funnest thing that has ever happened to her.  The first session included some reading and math tests, plus some easy coordination exercises (walk on a straight line etc...) The researcher also had a set of puzzle blocks that she would organize into a pattern and Sparkling Eyed One would have to try to replicate the exact pattern with the same set of blocks.  At the end of her session (an hour and a half) she got a snack and a juice box and got to pick a little prize out of a drawer of prizes (Sparkling Eyed One picked a giant pen). 
Her second session is today & all her siblings are already bugging her about what prize she will pick from the prize bin. 
And i love that sweet girl - with her wide mouth and brown skin. 
How she slipped her hand into mine as we pressed the down arrow on the elevator - and thanked me for choosing *her* to be a part of something special.