My Son Amazes Me Sometimes

During the summer, our church gives the regular children's teachers time off. After nine months with our kiddos, they certainly deserve more than a few Sundays of not teaching! Of course, in order to give them the time off, substitutes are needed. That's how, this summer, I've found myself teaching second and third graders a couple of times a month. Today was one of the days I got to teach.

Our church has been reading through the Bible this year. Therefore, it isn't always the old Sunday School stories that I find myself teaching. In fact, if I hadn't been doing Ownit365, I'm not sure I would have even know what exactly the story was talking about. The lesson was from the Old Testament. More specifically, it was from 2 Chronicles, Chapters 18 and 19. Those chapters contain the story of two kings. One follows God and the other doesn't. They consult 401 prophets, but only 1 is willing to speak the truth. In the end, the evil king loses his life by going into the battle. He was warned he would lose his life in the battle and took measures to keep that from happening. Of course, in the end, God's will prevailed.

The focus of the lesson was to choose your friends wisely. Certainly, it would have been easy to listen to the 400 false prophets rather than the 1 truthful one. Then again, Jehosophat never would have found himself in the predicament if he hadn't been friends with Ahab. I ramble.

One great thing about teaching on Sunday mornings has been that I get to see two of my own children during Kids' Worship. I love seeing them sing for Jesus. I also love knowing exactly what they've learned that morning.

Well today, even though I wasn't his teacher, I had to pull my son onto my lap because he was being so chatty with his two buddies. I didn't hold him for long, so I wasn't sure how much of the message he actually heard. That's why I was a bit surprised when I picked him up at the end of the service.

"Mom," he began with a concerned look on his face, "I don't know if ____ is a good friend."

I didn't even answer him since I was so shocked that he'd retained the message and was even applying it to his own life.

In fact, as I put him to bed later that night, he brought up the question of friends again. I wondered if maybe ____ was just the first friend that came to mind. So, I asked him about his other friends and whether or not they were good friends. He not only told me that they were, he also gave me examples of why they were good friends. He definitely hadn't randomly wondered about _____.

We discussed his friend in question for a few minutes. On his own, he came up with ways to avoid _____'s poor choices becoming his own. I was blown away. He truly got it!

I suppose I should mention that my son is only 5. He'll start Kindergarten this fall. I'm glad that thanks to our church reading the Bible and studying some of the lesser known stories, my son is more ready to begin a new phase of his life where neither I nor his dad can always choose his friends. That makes this mama very, very grateful.

Thanks, God for helping even the little ones understand your big truths.

My Sweet Ann

Sweet Ann,

This morning, I dropped you off at soccer camp. As you got out of the van, you mentioned that your stomach hurt. I knew you were just nervous and I refused to let you skip out on the first day of soccer camp.

You joined in the crowd without a problem, though you weren't too excited about the heat. I couldn't blame you. It was hot!

After I rejoined your sister and brother in the car, I watched you for a bit. At first you ran and then you started walking. Like I mentioned, it was already hot! Soon, your brother and sister began asking to leave. I obliged and slowly, very slowly, drove away as I watched you getting a sip of water.

Now, I have a confession. Even though Chris and Jane were really ready to leave, I circled the parking lot one more time. I just had to know you were okay! You see, I've never dropped a child off at soccer camp before. So, silly as it may seem, it was kinda tough for this mama to wrap her head around your independence!

As I finally pulled away, I prayed for God's protection over you. Then, I took a deep breath and looked forward to picking you up two hours later.

It was no surprise to find out after those two hours, that you had a great time! You're most looking forward to the end of the week when you get to bring water guns!

Ann, you've been a delight for me this summer. I love that you attempt conversations with me. Just today you were sitting at the table working on a craft and you started asking me questions. I can't remember exactly what the question was, but you wanted to know my favorite of some item. You do this quite often now, mimicking the conversations I've always started with you.

You've also brought to my attention this summer that you crave my undivided attention! As the oldest, I think you get tired of seeing your younger siblings getting praise for things you've done for quite a long time. I try to remind you that we once praised you for the same new achievements. I've also tried to give you extra hugs and kisses this summer and remind you how much I appreciate your helpfulness.

Legos have been your toy of choice this summer. You love your big pink tub of Legos that Uncle G gave you for Christmas. You spend a couple hours most days putting together different houses complete with accessories. I would have never guessed that you would have developed such an interest in Legos. That you have, reminds me to never let my assumptions dictate what you do!

Of course, you don't play Legos when you're at the pool. At the pool, you're a little fish! You've learned to go off the diving board this year as well as how to dive for dive sticks in the over four feet area. You're doing such a great job and you love it! You've run into friends at the pool and that's always fun for you.

Ann, in three more weeks you will start first grade. You're going to have such a wonderful time and I know you'll do great! I also know I'm really going to miss you. You're becoming such a wonderful little girl and I love you to pieces!

God Bless You, Sweet Girl.

Where Does He Get That Sense of Humor?

Moments ago, I heard something go thud in the laundry room.

I asked my son, "What are you doing?"

He said, "Nothing." I started to panic as I quickly walked to the laundry room.

A response of "nothing" is almost as dangerous as children being quiet.

It turned out he was getting down our hand held vacuum from the upper shelf. He wanted to vacuum the stairs. (He loves to do that and I love that he does it!)

Since the laundry room is also where I keep cleaners, I double checked to make sure he hadn't played with or tasted anything. Everything looked the way I'd left it, but you never know.

He assured me that he hadn't touched the cleaners. Just for good measure, I reminded him that they're poisonous. As soon as I did that, his eyes got big and he leaned over and pretended to spit stuff out of his mouth.

He had me for a moment. Then, I realized he was joking. He smiled at me and told me he knows that stuff isn't food.

I couldn't help but laugh. His timing was good and the way he did it was amazing. His sense of humor is something.

Let's all pray for his kindergarten teacher!

No Seriously, Say NO to Rugs!

Kids are truly too funny. My son is no exception. Actually, he's probably funnier than most, but that isn't the point.

My son is hands down the biggest trouble maker in our house. I can easily type that knowing he may one day read it, because it's absolutely true! Ironically, he is also the most concerned with rules and laws imposed by other people. (Those enforced by us seem to be mere suggestions to him!) That explains the following glimpses into our lives...

We were riding in our van with Tony's mom. She happened to be sitting in the back with Chris. He noticed that she didn't have her seat belt on and he said, in a very grown up voice, "You have to put your seat belt on or the police man will get you." It was both funny and precious at the same time. His true concern for his grandma was so evident.

On the same trip to visit Tony's mom, we were gathering supplies to head out and watch an airshow. His mom was packing a blanket and a couple of throw rugs for us to sit on in the grass. Chris told her, "No, those rugs are bad. Elvis at our church overdosed on those!" Apparently, it still hadn't quite sunk in that there are are rugs and then there are drugs. He also doesn't seem to understand that Elvis never went to our church.

Oh, the laughs those little ones provide!