picnic conversations

The kids are sitting on the living room floor having a peanut-butter-and-jelly picnic.

The first 10 minutes were spent talking about school. Carly told us about a little boy who had to sit at the naughty-table during lunch. We decided to pray for this little boy at bedtime. Isaac announced that we don't have to bring anything with us to Heaven except our heart. "And we don't even have to carry it!!" he exclaimed.

After my sandwich was finished, the kids continued to have deep conversations and entertainment on the picnic blanket.

Carly: Are you supposed to be eating or talking?

Isaac: Talking.

Carly: Who went to kindergarten or preschool today?

Isaac: I went to preschool today.

Carly: No you didn't! I went to kindergarten!

Carly: (whispering innocently) You need to shut up and eat.

Myra: What did you say?

Carly: (blank stare)

Myra: Where did you hear that?

Carly: _____ said it.

Myra: And _____ apologized for it afterwards. Those are harsh words that we never say.

Carly: Isaac, you need to zip it!

Isaac: Mommy! Carly told me to 'zip it'!

----

Carly: Look! I'm making a snow angel.

Isaac: Aren't you supposed to be eating?

Carly: (singing) IIII aaaaammmm a man and a horse. God made us special. Go GREEN! Go RED! Go RED!

Isaac: Go GREEN!

----

Carly: Let's play a game. When I say 'GO,' whoever says 'God' first, wins. Whoever says 'Satan,' loses.

Isaac: Okay.

Carly: On your marks, get set, GO!

Carly and Isaac: GOD!

Carly: We both won!

It's a wonder anything was eaten.

real life

Live for your athletic achievements—and some day the elastic in your legs will go, your reflexes will slow down, and your life will be "over".

Live for your scholastic attainments—and some day knowledge will pass you by, and life will be over.

Live for your family alone—sometime the children will be grown and gone, and life will be over.

Live for your business success—some day age will come, younger men will reach impatiently for your place, and life will be over.

But live for Christ—live for the inheritance that fades not away—and life will then have just begun!

-Author unknown

car talk

They say that you should turn off the radio in the car when travelling with your kids. Kids communicate better when you aren't staring them in the face, I guess. This is our normal practice to and from town. On one section of the road, we talk about what we're thankful for. On another, we talk about the day's plans. These subjects sometimes turn into more meaningful talk. Take Monday, for instance, which went something like this:

Myra: Today is Grandma Aberle's birthday. She's 57 years old!

Carly: And you're 31.

Isaac: How can she be older than you when you're bigger?

M: God just made me taller and bigger.

(The kids sat there, thinking thoughtful thoughts.)

I: Abraham's wife had a baby when she was as old as Grandpa Hartter!!

M: Wasn't that an awesome miracle? That's one reason why she laughed when God told her that she'd have a baby. She didn't believe it because she was so old. But God can do anything.

C: Yeah, you know that song, My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's NOTHING my God cannot do! God can do anything He wants to.

Conversation followed. As we pulled up to the High Rise, the kids knew the routine. They'd go into the office and pick out a couple worksheets from their workbook to do before playing. Isaac summed up the whole conversation in a big, deep voice. He said with gusto, "Yeah! God can do REALLY HARD worksheets!"

I laughed and answered, "He can do a lot more than that!"

images and quotes

Sidewalk fun. Isaac was insistent on creating a picture of him with only underwear on. He is so excited about his new hand-me-down boxer briefs. Sometimes they peek out under the bottoms of his shorts.

On July 1st, Isaac woke up, barefeet padding to our bedroom, like always. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Am I three yet?" He immediately noticed how much bigger he was. His feet had even grown! Since then, he has been impressed by this age difference. Alayna is 3, but he's a bigger 3. A few days ago, he announced, "God is usually bigger than us." I said, "Not 'usually'--God is always bigger than us." This sparked Carly to begin instructing Isaac in quite an animated voice. "Isaac, you know what? We can't see God, but He can see us! He can see us, but we can't see Him. He lives way, way, way up in the sky, and He can see everyone!" Carly has this way of repeating herself if she wants to get a point across to Isaac. Here is a (very amateur) video of her teaching him to "share with everyone" last winter. Turn up your volume. Hope it works. If not, come visit us, and we'll show it to you on our computer.

Isaac's latest observation, staring at my legs: "You've got BIG LEGS!"

Nice. Thanks.

gratitude

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast,
a house into a home,
a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past,
brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow."
Melody Beattie