"Funnies"

I caught myself laughing several times today....

As we were walking out of Target Mae comments, "Look how pretty blue the sky is, Mommy."  I agreed, it was a nice shade of azure.  Her eyes were searching the sky.  "Where's the little man?"  she asked.  It took me a few questions and a little soul-searching to figure out that she was looking for the main character of Pixar's "Up" floating to the sky in his house hitched to balloons.

Nate brings me a new book to read and quickly backs up while he glares at the book in my hands.  Let me preface this by saying that he brings me books often throughout our day.  He'll find me in the laundry room, unloading the dishwasher or feeding the baby a bottle and insist that I stop right then and there to read to him...and I usually do.  But this was different, he didn't come to sit in my lap to hear a story.  He just handed over the book and backed off.  I looked down to see the cover of Grover's "There's a Monster at the End of the Book!".  I read it to him as he watched from a distance, not taking his eyes of that book and his face was completely without expression.  It was the first time I had read it to him, but it was as if he was scared of that book.  Come to find out Jon had read it to him earlier in the week, in a very animated fashion.  I'm thinking of "banning" Sesame Street for a while since Nate runs at the site of Grover and Snuffy and Mae is paranoid about "monsters" coming through the back door.

On our way to meet Jon for dinner Mae asks, "Mommy, are we there yet?"  I reply, "Not yet."  Then she reapeatedly asks, "Now?....Now?....Are we there, are we there, are we there??...How about now?"

"I think I'm going to wash your clothes today, Mae."  I said this morning as I was getting ready to put in the first load of laundry.  Mae replies with this short story:  "No, Mommy.  Let's do Grammie's laundry.  Grammie does laundry.  Grammie does laundry at her house, in her 'bootiful' kitchen!"

Nate is a man of few words, well maybe even only a couple of words.  As he climbs on the dining table he says, in a chanting pattern:  "Nate, No.  No, Nate. Nate, No.  No, No Nate."  I think it's a safe assumption that he realizes he's NOT supposed to be climbing on the table.

Letting Go...

Watching kids play and interact is such an enlightening adventure, you really can learn a lot about basic human nature while standing by as a witness at Pop-In Preschool Playtime at Pump It Up.  We were there just this morning and while most of the other moms were chatting, I was following behind Nate and keeping a close eye on Mae.  Basically, I was one of the only "grown-ups" close enough to see the following scenario: 

A little boy was cruising around in one of those little red coupe cars that just about every preschooler has in the garage at home.  He parked right next to the ramp of the 20-foot inflatable slide and started to get out to climp up its ladder.  Then he spotted Mae who was carefully eying his joy-ride coupe.  He froze immediately and Mae just kept staring, waiting for him to leave the car behind so he could climp up and enjoy the thrill of the slide (which no preschooler I know has at home). She was waiting for a turn in the car (which we have at Grammie and Grampy's house).  The stare-down lasted for few long minutes until the little boy decided it wasn't worth the risk of loosing his Little Tykes ride.  He jumped back in and Mae ran off to find something more interesting (and available) to do. 
A thought crossed my mind (because I think much too deeply sometimes) about how we respond to God's blessings.  Sometimes we don't want to let go of the ordinary in order for Him to grant us the joy of the extraordinary.  We want to hold on to what is comfortable, what we know is safe and under our control.  When God is standing, waiting and probably staring at us wondering when we're going to let go of that so he can bless us beyond our imagination.  It would be impossible for that little boy to have carried that little car up the slide with him, and the ride down would've been painful had he tried to hold onto it if he got to the top.  But to let go and climb up with trust would've created so much more joy than a ride in that little car could ever offer.
During Christmas, I looked closer at Luke's account of  Elizabeth, Zacharias & John the Baptist.  The lack of faith Zacharias had when the angel announced that Elizabeth would deliver a son caused him to remain mute until John the Baptist was 8 days old.

59 So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. 60 His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.”

61 But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” 62 So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called.

63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. 65 Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. 66 And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him

I think I'll continue to study God's extrordinary work in ordinary lives.  And how those blessing are contingent upon living "by faith."  Hebrews 11 is a good place to start...