Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Laugh Of The Day - 2

Two in one day......wow.....

My son (again) asked me very seriously tonight while I was tucking him into bed if I could "please teach Hannah how to make *good* jellyfish (translated grape jelly) sandwiches so that when I die (gulp......as in ME), she will know how to make them for.....him."

Yep. Awesome, comforting questions. I did inform him that HE could learn HIMSELF how to make those "awesome jellyfish sandwiches" because his sister was NOT his slave!

Needless to say, Dave and I have had a few chuckles today because of our son.

Laugh Of The Day

Question from Seth:

"Mom, was Jesus powerful because of His hair?"

Thinking he must be confusing Jesus with Samson, I told him no, and then asked him why he thought that.

"Because there's power in the MANE of Jesus," he said, "and I know what a MANE is. It's hair," he said, completely serious.

Aren't children just amazingly awesome?

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Family Fun

It began with request from my son to read him the classic Three Little Pigs tonight, which I have not read in eons. As a joke, I called it the Three Piddle Ligs instead. This prompted my husband to google the Three Piddle Ligs, which turned up scads of spoonerisms.

If you have never read to your children using spoonerisms, try it. We had one of funnest evenings in a long time.

Dave read Cinderella and the Gairy Fodmother. Then I read the Three Piddle Ligs. I honestly thought my son was going to wet himself, such were his lelly baughs. Particularly when I read that the wolf : "chimed the climney and dropped tail first into a boiling stot of POO!"

Talk about deeding nepends!!

Ha Ha! Nood Gight!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Praise To A Faithful God

Dear Jesus:

I have a lot on my heart that I wish to thank You for. I am in awe that once again, You have proven your kindness to my family. I really can't begin to express my gratefulness.

While we were on the highway today, driving home from Edmonton, I almost *didn't hear* your gentle whisper to "just slow down a little". I questioned why on earth I would even think I needed to - after all the roads were great and it was still light out, AND we were only 30 minutes from home - but then surmised that there must be radar up ahead. So, actually thinking I was a *little crazy* for slowing down, I set my cruise control to 10 kms slower.

Until I came across THE ACCIDENT.

The accident that involved at least FOUR vehicles.

The accident that had a police car AND ambulance racing toward the scene FROM the opposite direction - the direction of home.

An accident that there is more than a good chance our family could have been involved in if I did not slow down *just a little*, because of Your nudge.

I can't quite describe the feeling that I had when I came upon it, but then, You know my heart anyway, Lord.

I know, Jesus, there are many times that You take care of us that we don't even know about. For all of those times, I truly thank You.

There are other times, Jesus, when You let us know in little ways that Your hand is on our lives. That everything that happens is entirely in Your plan. That You protect us. You have shown me that today. You showed me that while on vacation in all of our travels. You particularly showed me that during the "sneaker wave incident" involving my daughter.

So, for all the times You have protected us, Lord, I give you praise. I pray, Lord, for the people involved in the accident, for which I have not heard anything about yet.

And I pray that I NEVER forget to be thankful.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Thankful

After being away for two weeks and two days, I have discovered a few things that I am VERY thankful for:

1) I asked God to please keep my Granny healthy while I was away. I found it very difficult to be so far away from her when I couldn't quickly get home if I needed to. God was so good. My Granny was fine.

2) I asked God to "pretty please keep the highways safe", particularly from snow/blizzards. And you know what? He did just that. Every single one. We either just missed a storm, or were ahead of it. Thank you, Jesus.

3) I thank God for being able to go to the excellent services in Spokane, WA for three days, as well as a very nice church in Eureka, CA for prayer meeting and my previous pastor, Bro. Bow's church for one service. I HATE being away when I can't get to church.

4) I thank God for helping me every day to drive carefully. Wonderful God that He is, He did.

5) And finally, although not the least, I thank God that he kept my family safe. In particular, my daughter when at the ocean (as I previously blogged about). I cannot really express my gratitude enough about that.

Truthfully, I had a difficult time on this trip in general, and I needed help from God every day with my attitude about it. I did not want to be so far away from home for so long, driving so many miles. Every day He helped me, and I felt a noticeable difference with His help. Today I am home. In my own bed. And I am grateful for such a kind, caring God.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Seven Years

**I tried to post this on the day of my son's birthday, from my laptop, while on vacation. But my laptop is possessed and would NOT HAVE IT. Here is a tribute to my son....**

Today, he is 7.

I am not sure there is much I can say that I haven't said a kajillion times. But today, he is 7. That I have NEVER said before.

We tried to make the day as special as you can make it when you are on vacation and have driven endlessly. When you are currently staying in your FIFTH hotel room in EIGHT days.

Today we stayed put. We are in the coast of Oregon, heading North, eventually making our way home. We spent time at a wild animal games park which my son really enjoyed, because it was the type of park that allowed the tame animals to wander free through the park. He got to pet rams, goats, sheep, donkeys, burrows (there IS a difference between the two, which I didn't know). He tried to get close to the deer and peacocks, but they would have none of it. In addition, he got to pet a baby Bengal tiger, a possum, a coon, a ferret, and even a de-stinkified skunk.....which turned out to be his favourite. What a surprise.

His first phone call this morning was from his Auntie Laura. She told him to take lots of pictures of the tiger so she could scrapbook them, which he promptly replied with: "Auntie.....you are *destroying* my sense of humour!"

All day his milked his birthday-boy status. "I think, since it's MY birthday, that we should go to the park," or "Do I get to pick a place to eat, since it's MY birthday?" He did pretty much get his choice of everything, too.

He told the kids at the park it was his birthday. He coloured a picture at the restaurant we were at, put it on the window facing out so the "cars passing by could see what an awesome job he did".

Yep. That's my boy. NEVER wanting to be the centre of attention.

He is still such a stinker. He is still so stinkin' lovable. He is the kind of kid whose personality I have always enjoyed tremendously IN OTHERS. Maybe God saw that and decided that's the kind of son I needed.

Whatever the case, I sure am glad he's my son. Even at my most frustrated, I know deep down inside that I wouldn't change him if I could.

I'm thankful to God for seven wonderful years. Oh how I love that boy!


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

What If?

Every once in a while something happens in life that has great impact. I suspect these things happen to teach valuable lessons. I certainly hope that I've learned mine.

Today, as part of our vacation in Northern California, we decided to visit Patrick's Point. Patrick's Point is a part of beach that is known for having agate rocks. An agate rock is a rock that, when held up to the light, you can see right through. People from all over the world come to Patrick's Point to collect these rocks. Upon reading this history, my daughter had her heart set on finding some of these rocks.

After spending several hours hiking in the Trees of Mystery and going on a gondola ride, we made our last destination Patrick's Point. What we didn't know is that Patrick's Point is, in fact, a cliff that overlooks the Pacific, and that to get to the beach a person has to climb down the steep embankment for quite a ways. It's not that the trail is terribly treacherous, at least not until the end, but it is long and I knew in my tired brain that meant it would be a much harder climb back to the top. At the beginning of our descent, we watched the angry waves come crashing in for a while. It was a rainy, windy day, and the ocean did not appear forgiving. A fact that should been a warning to us.

The roar was loud as we descended. We took our time, fully intent upon walking on the beach, trying to find Hannah's precious rocks and a seashell or two. At the bottom of the climb, we came across a California Coast Guard. She warned us that the ocean was at high tide and that, if we decided to continue, there was a chance we would be caught unaware by a "sneaker" wave. She said that if we came back in an hour, the tide would be going back out and we shouldn't have to worry about them at that point. Dave and I stood in indecision. We watched the waves for a while, noticing that we had a good amount of sand where the last waves came and the rocks of the cliff where we could look for agate. I watched what I thought were "sneaker" waves coming in, thinking "what's the worst that could happen? So a wave comes a little further and I get my shoes wet....no real harm done". And the thought of climbing back UP, only to return in an hour and again have to climb back UP.....well, for this out-of-shape, fat body who already spent hours hiking - it was just too much. So, Dave and I made the decision (which in all fairness he probably made because of ME) to chance a little ol' sneaker wave and stay.

We spent a delightful 45 minutes collecting what we only think are agate rocks, along with the odd seashell. Then we headed back to the section where we were to begin our climb. We wandered quite a distance down the beach, enjoying the sound of the waves crashing, feeling completely safe. We reached a section that, right in the middle of the sand, had a little stream flowing. I had Seth with me, Hannah and Dave were following. I jumped over this "little" stream and grabbed Seth's hand to help him jump. We both weren't successful and ended up getting a little wet. While my back was turned away from the ocean, a little "sneaker" wave caught us unawares. This "little" wave wasn't as little as I thought it would be, however. It soaked us past my ankles, and totally upset my son. I turned back to look to see Dave and Hannah holding onto a log, cheering us on.

I took my crying son around the last cliff before the ascent, when we were hit yet again with another "sneaker" wave. This time it soaked Seth to his knees and me mid-calf. My son was hysterical. I rushed him to the stairs as I tried to comfort him.

I waited a ways up for Dave and Hannah to catch up. That's when I saw that they were totally soaked. That's when my heart stopped. I did not realize that as I was calming my hysterical son, trying to get him up the stairs, Dave and Hannah got hit with a wave. Dave was in water up to his WAIST and Hannah was in water up to her ARMPITS. Hannah lost her balance and Dave managed to catch her and hold on to the log. My daughter was crying. My son was crying. I was in shock. Dave was quiet. My son cried for 15 solid minutes.

We drove about 15 minutes back to our hotel room. We cleaned up sand in four pair of shoes - none of which we could throw in the washer at the hotel because it was against the rules. We cleaned sand in pants and skirts and socks. We had baths. We comforted our children. We talked and talked and talked about it. After once saying that we needed to stop talking about it, I realized the unfairness of that because my daughter NEEDED to talk about it.

We hadn't eaten since breakfast, so we finally found a restaurant and sat down to eat. And talk more about THE INCIDENT. Dave and I had been avoiding the "what ifs", but really, I think it's impossible to totally avoid them. Sometimes I think they're even necessary because they make you more thankful.

"What if I wasn't right beside Hannah?" Dave asked. Or, "what if I would have seen this and screamed when I saw my daughter in deep water? Would I have screamed and intensified the situation?" I asked. "What if I didn't suddenly feel a rock holding me up?" Hannah asked us, instantly sobering Dave and I.

"What if I would have crossed the little log first, as I was intending to, and then reached for Hannah to help her, only to have the wave come when I was on the other side?" was Dave's last question. And then I watched as his eyes filled with tears.....and he tried to hide it.

The fact is, we should have NEVER gone out on that beach in high tide. We will both always regret it. It was a stupid, stupid mistake that we will never repeat. We will have to take the kids both to the ocean in the days ahead at LOW tide, just so they don't develop an unreasonable fear of the ocean.

The fact also is, that God was merciful. When Hannah asked where the "rock" suddenly came from, well, I think we all knew Who the Rock was.

And I ask, "what if" we didn't really KNOW Him?