Off for a summer date with a little one. Yay! I'm still loving quality time from month one. I'm amazed at how much showing love through acts of service has been on my mind, just in the first day, even though school hasn't started yet. Its really nice to be conscious of how using acts of service (even as simple as getting a child a drink right away instead of putting her off) shows love. Enjoy this mayhem-ish prayer story from a few days ago. A frequent happening at our house. Happy Tuesday!
I love those sweet and innocent paintings of children praying. And I believe Jesus when He said we must become as little children.
But prayers aren't always so angelic at our house.
Here is how one went (roughly) at our house the other night. Our little three year old offers to say virtually every prayer. Her hand shoots up and she gets this cute proud grin on her face. :)
Three year old, in a cute high pitched, sing-songy voice: Dear Heavenly Father....
[pause]
[whispers loudly] What else?
[Baby banging two toys together, oblivious]
Me, squinting one eye open: What are you thankful for?
Three: [repeats what I said, as a matter-of-fact statement] What are you thankful for.
[Ten year old, 9 year old and 6 year old giggle]
[Three year old, still grinning, giggles too]
[Husband, sitting on the floor in the corner, has his head against the wall and his eyes closed]
Three whisper-shouts: What next?
[pause]
Nine year-old: Thank you for this day.
Three: Thank you for this day!
Eleven year old hiss-whispers: please bless Grampie!
Three: Please bless Grampie!
Six year-old loudly whispers: And grandma! And Grandpa!
Three: And Grandma. And Grandpa.
[with eyes wide open now, kicking a toy with her foot, now she picks it up and starts to play with it]
Nine: And the sad people!
Me: Ava! Fold your arms!
Three year old: oh. [still kicking her feet, looking around the room] And please bless the sad people.
[Six year-old starts taking a toy the baby wants, they start a tug-of-war with baby screaming loudly, still oblivious, six year-old still doesn't let go]
[Husband in the corner, with his head against the wall, eyes closed. I think he is asking for delivery. right now.]
Eleven year old: [hint, hint] Name of Jesus [this is how we close our prayers]
Nine whispers: ...Christ amen!
[can always tell when the kids are tired of the prayer because they tell the pray-er to close this way]
Three: Name of Jesus Christ AMEN! [Raises both arms in the air in triumph, like I DID IT! You are so proud of me!]
It's a good thing there is a lot of power in those sweet little innocent prayers. Maybe we'll be saved because of them and not in spite of them.
Do you have any good prayer stories? What is the most unusual thing someone has done during a prayer at your house? I think we've had someone throw up, had giggles turn into convulsive laughter, and kids emit sounds that are too rude for me to mention here.
Showing posts with label Life with Five. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life with Five. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Some Funnies
We've had a few times lately when we've started laughing and couldn't stop. Here they are, to brighten your day. Or not. :)
We were sitting at dinner one night and my three year-old's sippy cup was emitting a soft, high-pitched squeak as air released from inside. Someone said "I hear the kittens!" Our garage, where the kittens have been home-basing, has a door directly to our dining room, so a couple of the kids thought the sound they heard was kittens meowing from the other side of the door. I told them no, the sound is Ava's sippy. No Mom, they said, it is the kittens! We can hear them! So then everyone hushed and heard the meow-like sound emitting clearly from Ava's sippy cup. Then I said "maybe inside Ava's sippy is a tiny kitten!" Not that funny, but it made everyone bust a gut, if you know what I mean. Then my oldest joked that in the grocery stores next to the 1% and 2% milk you can now find "Milk With Tiny Kitten." They were laughing so hard, even the baby joined in with a forced machine-gun laugh that was adorable and infectious. Then it degenerated into jokes that weren't quite so high-brow, like "butter with leper/leopard finger" (not funny, I know). Fun times.
Playing ping pong with my 10 year-old in our basement and my three year-old wanted in on the action. I set up a chair next to my side of the table while my son and I attempted a game. The difficulty in actually playing a serious game with baby underfoot and 3 year-old swiping at anything that came her way made us sort of give up, starting first with high-lobbed I-don't-really-care-about-this-game-anymore shots, continued fog of scoring that always ended in declaring it must be a tie, and a loose ball that got up into the floor joists and rattled around a few times before descending back to earth. We laughed so hard that things then degenerated into a total free-for-all, hitting the wildest and craziest shots across the room at each other, rarely hitting the table. We laughed so hard that wetting our pants became an option.
Playing Catan for 3 long hours, my husband begging for someone to mercifully "just win! Please!" Husband getting frustrated as I kept confusing his pieces with our daughter's, as well as some continued confusion about the rules. Watching him as baby tried to climb on the table, kneeling in the cards, my six year-old sneaking my cards then trying to auction them to the highest bidder, watching my nine year-old prudently try to save all her resources only to keep having to give up cards; a super healthy snack of salami slices and brownies (though we ate super healthy this week! it felt really good!) that almost turned into dinner as evening waned into night, little girls wandering off as they lost interest, watching Esther on TV, and then, finally, husband came from behind and won! That sneaky devil.
We were sitting at dinner one night and my three year-old's sippy cup was emitting a soft, high-pitched squeak as air released from inside. Someone said "I hear the kittens!" Our garage, where the kittens have been home-basing, has a door directly to our dining room, so a couple of the kids thought the sound they heard was kittens meowing from the other side of the door. I told them no, the sound is Ava's sippy. No Mom, they said, it is the kittens! We can hear them! So then everyone hushed and heard the meow-like sound emitting clearly from Ava's sippy cup. Then I said "maybe inside Ava's sippy is a tiny kitten!" Not that funny, but it made everyone bust a gut, if you know what I mean. Then my oldest joked that in the grocery stores next to the 1% and 2% milk you can now find "Milk With Tiny Kitten." They were laughing so hard, even the baby joined in with a forced machine-gun laugh that was adorable and infectious. Then it degenerated into jokes that weren't quite so high-brow, like "butter with leper/leopard finger" (not funny, I know). Fun times.
Playing ping pong with my 10 year-old in our basement and my three year-old wanted in on the action. I set up a chair next to my side of the table while my son and I attempted a game. The difficulty in actually playing a serious game with baby underfoot and 3 year-old swiping at anything that came her way made us sort of give up, starting first with high-lobbed I-don't-really-care-about-this-game-anymore shots, continued fog of scoring that always ended in declaring it must be a tie, and a loose ball that got up into the floor joists and rattled around a few times before descending back to earth. We laughed so hard that things then degenerated into a total free-for-all, hitting the wildest and craziest shots across the room at each other, rarely hitting the table. We laughed so hard that wetting our pants became an option.
Playing Catan for 3 long hours, my husband begging for someone to mercifully "just win! Please!" Husband getting frustrated as I kept confusing his pieces with our daughter's, as well as some continued confusion about the rules. Watching him as baby tried to climb on the table, kneeling in the cards, my six year-old sneaking my cards then trying to auction them to the highest bidder, watching my nine year-old prudently try to save all her resources only to keep having to give up cards; a super healthy snack of salami slices and brownies (though we ate super healthy this week! it felt really good!) that almost turned into dinner as evening waned into night, little girls wandering off as they lost interest, watching Esther on TV, and then, finally, husband came from behind and won! That sneaky devil.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Cup Half Full and a Maserati
We went on a long road trip yesterday, winding between and over pine mountains in the waning light. We successfully completed a 60 second piano recital on our way to Grandpa's house. Stopped for food with 2 hours to go. Hubby got some waters with our order; probably because he asked for no less than seven waters :) (we're used to it, but its still embarrassing to ask sometimes), they gave them to us in little tiny ice cream sundae cups. I was wondering how it was going to go with everyone having about two sips of water on the long drive. :)
Gearing up to talk positively to and about the kids :), I thought I could start with the water. So, instead of grumbling about the size of the waters (I understand, after all...that is a lot of waters), I opened our dusty van door and said "look how lucky we are! We get to drink out of these cute tiny cups!" The kids acted really excited. I tossed some crinkly wrapped burgers around like an underhanded basketball while I overheard them saying "When I'm done, I'm saving my cup. I want to keep it!"
Hubby anxious to pass slow slow trailer after 20 mins, gassed it so hard when his time came and then he just kept on going. It felt fast? Felt like he suddenly thought our minivan was a Maserati. I looked warily at the speedometer and he was only going 50-- five over the speed limit. Even the kids started asking "why is Dad going so fast?" After that, he slowed down and we laughed. Today my six year old said "Dad, go 50!" Now that is what she thinks of as fast.
Winding through more canyons, hub-bub of chatter in the car, we spotted a moose and her calf knee deep in a stream, lots of deer, and, at the top of a mountain, a crystal sky-blue lake. I had my feet up on the dashboard, enjoying my new fuchsia colored toenails and (am I dreaming it?) thinner legs (morning exercising paying off, got a long way to go still). Marks on dashboard reminded me how thankful I am for my pain-free legs (story here). Lots of bad jokes about deer, but I was happy to hear the kids laughing-- "oh dear, I missed the deer." Later I sat in back with the girls for a sleepy chat to Grandpa's house. Dusk settled as we raced the night train, just a sleepy little family and some sagebrush.
Gearing up to talk positively to and about the kids :), I thought I could start with the water. So, instead of grumbling about the size of the waters (I understand, after all...that is a lot of waters), I opened our dusty van door and said "look how lucky we are! We get to drink out of these cute tiny cups!" The kids acted really excited. I tossed some crinkly wrapped burgers around like an underhanded basketball while I overheard them saying "When I'm done, I'm saving my cup. I want to keep it!"
Hubby anxious to pass slow slow trailer after 20 mins, gassed it so hard when his time came and then he just kept on going. It felt fast? Felt like he suddenly thought our minivan was a Maserati. I looked warily at the speedometer and he was only going 50-- five over the speed limit. Even the kids started asking "why is Dad going so fast?" After that, he slowed down and we laughed. Today my six year old said "Dad, go 50!" Now that is what she thinks of as fast.
Winding through more canyons, hub-bub of chatter in the car, we spotted a moose and her calf knee deep in a stream, lots of deer, and, at the top of a mountain, a crystal sky-blue lake. I had my feet up on the dashboard, enjoying my new fuchsia colored toenails and (am I dreaming it?) thinner legs (morning exercising paying off, got a long way to go still). Marks on dashboard reminded me how thankful I am for my pain-free legs (story here). Lots of bad jokes about deer, but I was happy to hear the kids laughing-- "oh dear, I missed the deer." Later I sat in back with the girls for a sleepy chat to Grandpa's house. Dusk settled as we raced the night train, just a sleepy little family and some sagebrush.
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