honest heart

C is a normal little boy.  I certainly love that about him.  :-)  And every once in a while, he gets in trouble at school and has to "pull a card."  They have a system of green (good), yellow (warning), red (note home) and blue (sent to office).  One week, particularly recently, he had 3 yellow cards in a 4 day week.  I wasn't very pleased with this, and so Joshua and I sat down with him to discuss his consequence at home.  We've talked in length with him about what his "job" is at school, and especially since I'm a teacher, what our expectations of his behavior are.  Josh and I both understand that there is a whole mess of little boy in him that is dying to get out sometimes, so we talk about each instance as it happens. 

Well, this particular week was just crazy.  So, we told him that we felt like he would lose his new DS for the weekend.  He was of course devastated about this, so I asked him what he would have done if he were us. 

"Well, I would take it away for....4 weeks." 

Josh and I both looked at each other and laughed - apparently he wasn't catching on to the fact that 2 days was WAY better than 4 weeks.  :-) 

Later that night, to get to the point, we went to a friend's house to play Risk.  They have two little boys that C adores playing with, so it was a family night.  When we got there the kids ran to the basement to play and we set up our festivities at the dining room table. 

About an hour into the evening, C came upstairs and asked if he could talk to me.  He came around the table and started whispering into my ear.  It seemed that his friend had a DS in the basement, and he wanted to play it.  I mean, technically, this wasn't HIS DS, so it didn't really fall under the category of his consequence.  ;-)  I am pretty sure when C came up the stairs, though, he knew what the answer was going to be.  Yep, no matter how cute you are, the answer is still "no."  Though it wasn't the answer he wanted, C smiled, hugged my neck, and skipped back downstairs. 

I didn't think much about it at the time, but later that night, I was struck at what an honest heart my little guy has.  He could've played that DS in the basement all night long, and I would never have been the wiser.  But he chose to respect Joshua and I...and God...in the process.  I don't know if it was something we did as parents, or his natural sensitivity to spiritual things...but I am SO honored to be his mama...

*love*

bucket filler

c's school does a behavior program called being a "bucket filler."  i was new to the idea, so he's been filling me in.  basically, there's a puppet (who happens to be a talking bucket.  :-?  yeah.  okay.)  who tells the kids that the whole point of this behavior program is to do nice things for others...hence, being a "bucket filler."  bullies, i've been told, are "bucket dippers."  this is a big deal, people.  a really big deal.  if you get caught being one of the aforementioned bucket fillers, you get your good deed read over the announcements, and your picture on the wall with the puppet.  this is akin to the nobel peace prize for kindergartners.  :-)

c has been angling to get the award all year.  every day, quite literally, he does something and then says to me, "mommy, did i fill your bucket?"  kisses, feeding the dog, opening doors for me...you name it, he does it.  [these people really know how to indoctrinate young children!] 

one evening at dinner, after asking me several times already that day if he had filled my bucket, c asked if he could pray for dinner.  of course, we told him he could.  we bowed our heads, and geared ourselves up for what would become the prayer of the year.  he really outdid himself.  i think our meal was blessed, our family was blessed, third-world children were blessed...  *laughing*  as he lifted his head, he looked at joshua and i with a smug, all-knowing look. 

"bet that filled God's bucket." 

sure did, mister.  sure did. 

top chef: mommy edition

[at the dinner table]

"dear jesus, thank you for this day.  thank you for letting us spend time together as a family.  and thank you for this...uh...."

[looks at his plate critically and then up at me with a squinty eye]

"mom...what is this stuff anyway??" 

[sigh] "Corned beef hash and biscuits, buddy."

"Yeah.  Thanks for THAT, Jesus.  Amen." 


Could there be a sweeter compliment?  *laughing*  At least he cleaned his plate! 

O-H.....I-O...!!!!!

[praying at bedtime with daddy]

"dear Jesus, thank you for this day, and thank you for letting us spend time together as a family.  oh, and thank you VERY much that today is the last day of college football.  amen."

Go Buckeyes!!  lol 

[we won't tell him its not really the end of college football...but if it is "well with his soul"...we'll leave it as is!]

sweet spirit of adoption

a sampling of sorts: 

[viewing a video on Thanksgiving about adoption...C's jaw dropped when he heard that there are 145 million orphans in the world]


whispering to me during service:  "mommy, that's a lot of people that need a family.  i'm glad we're adopting." 


me too, bud.  me too. 


[praying tonight before bedtime]


"and dear God, please forgive me for dumping out my Clear Blue bottle to give the money to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Matty for their adoption.  i knew You would be ok with it." 


[a conversation one evening]

C:  "mommy, why haven't we adopted yet?"

"buddy, its really complicated...we're going to.  but sometimes God's timing isn't our timing.  mommy has to pray for patience, too..."

C:  [very matter of fact]  "sometimes i run out of patience.  but then i ask God to fill me back up again, and He does." 

i was blown away by his very child-like answer...and then i realized how right he was.  it really IS that easy...


Psalm 37:5-7a
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. 

King David...revisited

Its no secret that C's favorite person from the Bible, save Jesus, is King David.  Lately, he's been learning a bit past the 5 stones and a slingshot King David, though...

C:  "Mommy, did you know King David stole someone's wife?" 

Me:  "I did.  That's not cool, is it?"

C:  "No, it isn't."

Me:  "What's even worse than that...is once he stole another man's wife, then he had her husband go to war so he would die." 

C:  "No, he didn't."

Me:  "Totally did.  That didn't make God very happy, did it?"

C:  "No way."  [pondering for a few moments]  "King David make some really bad decisions, Mom." 

Me:  "Sure did, bud.  But God lets us make really bad decisions sometimes so we learn how much we need Him.  When we make mistakes, He shows us how much He loves us by letting us learn hard lessons.  Then, hopefully, we won't do those things again." 

C:  "I think that might have been the hardest lesson of all." 


I don't know about that that, buddy...but keep learning.  You are loved!

King David

C:  "Mom, I want to meet King David.  He was so awesome...killing Goliath, saving God's people, using his slingshot"  [each of these word pictures were punctuated with live action, by the way]

Me:  "Well, honey, you can't.  He's been dead for hundreds of years."  (mind you, I'm completely distracted, reading a book at this point)

C:  [astounded silence...breaking into shock and awe...then horror at the realization...as he crumbles to the floor in tears]  "But I wanted to meeeeeeeeeeeeet hiiiiiiiiiiiim...............!!!!"

Now, at this point...before you think I'm a bad mom, I've totally put my book down.  I had no idea how involved this was going to get.  I gather my little sobbing heap into my arms and am trying to make sense of this seemingly spiritual meltdown...

Me:  "Honey, King David was a real person, but he lived hundreds of years ago.  He's in heaven now.  But one day, because of what Jesus did for us, we'll be in heaven too, and you can meet him." 

C:  [now pouting] "But he's dead."

Me:  [sensing the conversation was about to take a deep turn...one too deep, possibly, for my little 5-year-old-at-the-time]  "But he's alive in heaven!" 

C:  [still pouting...but now pensive]  "But he's dead."

Me:  "When we die on earth, we get to go to heaven and we're alive again with Jesus.  He gives us a new body."  [Lord, help me here...]

C:  "Really?  A new body?"  [King David is now a thing of the past.  Literally.]

Me:  "Really."

C:  "Wow.  Mommy...I can't wait to get to heaven to get my new body!  I bet Jesus picked a really good one out for me!!  I'll bet I'm really handsome." 

For sure, little man.  For sure.