Since Krista's winter break started, I've been indulging in reading again. And it's been wonderful!!! In the past three days, I've read The
Captive Heart by
Dale Cramer, The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie
Klassen and The
Rose of Winslow Street by Elizabeth Camden. Upstairs, I'm reading Kiss of Night by Debbie Viguie and downstairs, I'm reading Don Reid's The Mulligans of Mt. Jefferson. I'll have all these reviews posted in my newsletter, Five Star Books & More by The Reading Mom, in January :o)
The kids and I were sitting in the overflow room during the 8am service. There isn't any reason for us to be in there since there are plenty of seats available in the Celebration Center at that service, but it's extremely cozy and intimate since it's usually just the three of us in there. Naturally, when I bring water for Michael, he's never thirsty. During Pastor Doug's sermon, Michael whispered, "I'm so thirsty I could drink a sea!" Naturally, the water bottle was in the car.
Krista was speaking to Michael in a English accent and it was cracking Michael up! That's when he said to her, "Krista! You sound...Jewish!" Of course, he meant "English" but it must have been something he heard in the sermon! Entertaining comments like these (made in the overflow room) give me plenty of material to blog about! ;o)
Tonight, Jacob did the funniest thing and Michael fell for it hook, line and sinker! After dinner, Jacob was peeling Clementines. He separated the oranges by fourths but held them together so it looked like a whole Clementine. Then he set it in front of Michael and when Michael said, "Now!" Jacob would remove his hands and the Clementine "magically" fell in separated pieces! Michael was amazed! Jacob repeated the trick and each time, Michael called out, "Now!" the same thing happened. We knew things were getting out of hand when Jacob handed Krista a whole Clementine and Michael yelled across the table, "NOW!" over and over (and louder and louder!) expecting the Clementine to fall to pieces! So Jacob handed Michael another Clementine so he would be able to have the desired effect once he said, "Now!" As the Clementine fell into pieces, Michael turned to Jacob and said, "I call that Man Power!" Okay, we were practically rolling out of our seats from laughing so hard!!!
I wanted to capture his expression when he called out, "Now!" so I asked Krista to take a few pics...
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| As soon as Michael sees Krista with the camera, he ducks under the table! His little hand spreads out like that when he calls out, "NOW!" |
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| After being threatened, Michael returns from below the table and tries to put the Clementine back together! |
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| Michael is "reenacting" his hand motions when he calls out his "NOW!" |
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| Krista caught a pic of Michael under the table --- uncooperative as usual when we want to take pictures! Did I mention he can be a Director's nightmare?!? |
When Krista was around the same age, my Uncle Allen would pretend to "pull" lollipops and coins from her ears. Sometimes, we would pretend we lost something and then found it "magically" hidden in her ears! It backfired on us.
When we were looking for something like an important document, keys or something like that, Krista would be insistent that we check her ears first because she was sure it would be found in them!!!
Children are so trusting. Ask any child to jump off the top of the table into your arms and they will do it in a heartbeat because they believe in you. They don't question if you're going to drop them or miss them when they jump. They just do it! They're quick to forgive when you ask them for it. And they love unabashedly. If you're a parent, then you know exactly what I'm talking about, right?!?
I think that's why Jesus used children as an example for us to follow. Take a look at how the Amplified Bible puts Matthew 18:2-4...
"And He called a little child to Himself and put him in the midst of them,
3And
said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and
become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you
can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all].
4Whoever
will humble himself therefore and become like this little child
[trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of
heaven."
No wonder Jesus loves the children of the world!
