All of you who are on facebook, I’m sure, are aware of that relationship status option. I’ve decided that “it’s complicated” is the best way to describe how Ali feels about her new cousin Eli. She talks about him ALL the time, and 98% of of the time when we ask her who she wants to pray for, she says, “Pray Eli!”.
BUT, when it comes to face to face encounters, she avoids him. We’ll be driving up to their house, and she’ll be chanting in the backseat, “Eli House! Eli House!”, but as soon as we get inside, she’s like a little opposing magnet – keeping her eye on him so that she can keep as much distance between them as possible. As soon as she hears the word “home” come from my mouth, she is saying “bye bye Eli”, and heading for the door. And, if we force the issue of her getting nearer to Eli, we get frightened and horrified looks like the one I showed you earlier this week:
