A few nights ago during our nighttime devotion Mark was waxing eloquent and spent a very long time reviewing with the children the meaning of the material he had just read to them.  This involved him asking a lot of questions to be sure they understood the terminology used and the meaning of the parable read.  (He had just read the parable of the Sower from this devotional book - see also Matthew 13:3-8; Mark 4:3-8; and Luke 8:5-8 - which I highly recommend. )

We learned that night just how profitable it is to ask questions and not to just assume that everyone understands what has been read.

Mark:  What is soil?                         

All the children raise their hands. Mark calls on Caleb (almost 6).

Caleb:  It is something Mom uses when she makes pizza.

Huh?!  Mark and I look at one another dumbfounded. Caleb surely knows what soil is.

Mark:  What do you mean something Mom uses when she makes pizza?

Caleb: Soil, SOIL! You know you spread it on the pizza pan.

Huh? Then understanding starts to dawn…

Caleb:  Oil! Oil! Soil.

Of course! Grin. Oil.

I wonder what he was thinking during the reading of the parable if he thought that the farmer was scattering the seeds in good oil.  Hee, hee…btw, he did know what soil was.

Here is another funny that happened this morning this time between Bess (age 2 ½) and myself. (At the time Bess was being rather unpleasant and demanding that I give her some milk.)

Me:  Bessie, you may not make demands of momma. You need to ask me nicely if you want some milk.

Bess:  I’m NOT a man!

Huh?

(Get it…demands/man. Hee, hee.)

Where can you go from there? Nothing more need be said.

Grin.

And this (not being a man) goes back to a “conversation” she had with her dad where he said something to the effect of “get it man?” to her and she promptly told him “I’m not a man!” She came in later (I wasn’t there during the original conversation) and told me, “Mom, dad called me a man. I’m NOT a man.  I’m a Bessie.”

Yes, she definitely is and she tells me so all the time…

“Mom, I’m a Bessie.”

Bethany:  Mom, do you know what my favorite part of the Dawn Treader is?

Me:  No, what?                       

Bethany:  The part where Useless turns into a dragon.

Me: (Laughing) Eustace not Useless. But, he was pretty useless wasn’t he?

Bethany: Yes…

“But just as he reached the edge of the pool two things happened.  First of all, it came over him like a thunder-clap that he had been running on all fours—and why on earth had he been doing that?  And secondly, as he bent toward the water, he thought for a second that yet another dragon was staring up at him out of the pool.  But in an instant he realized the truth.  The dragon face in the pool was his own reflection.  There was no doubt of it.  It moved as he moved:  it opened and shut its mouth as he opened and shut his. 

He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep.  Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself.”

                                   -The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Looking back at this conversation with Bethany I can see what a teachable moment this was. I wish I’d stopped and probed a little deeper and talked a little more about Eustace and his transformation to and from a dragon, but the truth is that I missed it.  Bethany was in the middle of watching the BBC video of The Dawn Treader (for the millionth time) and I was busy doing something else. So I missed it.

Be careful not to miss those teachable moments…they are precious and irretrievable.

Btw, in case you haven’t heard…Disney is releasing Price Caspian in May.

A Fudge Stripe.

That might not mean anything to you, but it means a lot to me. Fudge Stripes are my favorite (grocery store) cookie.

I would try to explain what I felt when I saw that cookie…but that would be impossible. I wonder how long I can save it? Hmmm....

It’s the little things.

Yea! I just received two new books…

God, Marriage and Family by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Living the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney.

Yea! I just had to share. Also, today, the kids and I started reading Dangerous Journey, The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan retold by Oliver Hunkin. Yea!

 I bought Dangerous Journey with the intention that Mark would read it aloud to the children, but I’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. So today (since I was in a funk anyway) I decided I would go ahead and read it to them. All I can say is, “It is wonderful!” I still want Mark to read it to them, but I’m glad I am reading it, because if I weren’t I would miss out on so much beauty and truth. (Because when he reads aloud to the children I only half-way listen.  )

“Then said Evangelist: Stand still a little.  So he stood trembling. And Evangelist said:  You have rejected the Word of God for the advice of Mr. Worldly Wiseman.  But Mr. Legality cannot free you of your burden.  Mr. Legality is a cheat. As for his son, Civility, notwithstanding his simpering looks, he cannot help you either.  As he spoke, there was a great clap of thunder.  And Christian called himself a thousand fools for listening to Mr. Worldly Wiseman.  I am sorry I have hearkened to this man’s counsel, he said, turning back with haste.  He spoke to no one on the way, nor if anybody asked him, would he give them an answer. He went like one that was all the while treading on forbidden ground, and could by no means think himself safe, till he had regained the road abandoned.  But would he ever reach it?  He wasn’t at all sure.  For narrow is the gate. It says in his book, and few are they who find it.”  (Dangerous Journey by Oliver Hunkin/John Bunyan)

P.S. Thank You.

P.P.S.  Nighttime – Mark is home and is reading God, Marriage and Family. This is a first. I’ve never seen him pick up a book on marriage and family and just start reading. Wow! This is amazing.

blessings,

dani

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. –Matthew 7:14

Caleb:  Mom, my rock is gone!  I put it on the windowscale and Bethany was playing with the curtain and now it is gone!

Me:  The what? You put it where?

Caleb: On the windowscale!

Okay.

Windowsill?

Hmmmm. Guess we need to work on that.

Post Note: Now I am the keeper of the rock. It is sitting on my laptop as I type. Such a honor. Really! Ahhh, the little things.

blessings,

dani

Better a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. (Proverbs 17:1)

From the back of the van we heard Caleb and Bethany talking…

Caleb:  Hector don’t say any more words!

Bethany:  I’m not Hector!

What? Mark and I look at one another. We laugh. Completely lost. Then, Mark says, “Hector Zeroni?” I laugh. We both laugh. We laugh some more. It’s the little things.

I guess they’ve watched Holes one too many times.

(p.s. I guessed at the spelling of Zeroni. I couldn't find it...)

blessings,                                       

dani

In Your presence is fullness of joy.  -Psalm 16:11

Proverbs 19:11 “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” 

This morning Caleb came to me claiming that his older brother had offended him – specifically that Aaron had bonked him on the head with a lightsaber. Later we happened to read Proverbs 19:11 so I called Caleb’s attention to it. 

I said, “Caleb did you hear that?  When Aaron bonks you and you say that it is okay or just ignore being bonked, it is for your good and God is glorified. (We’ve been talking a lot about how we can glorify God through our actions, etc.) He said, “But Mom, where is the ‘fense’ in this house? I don’t see a ‘fense’ in here.” Hmmmm. Gotta love it.

blessings,

dani

“A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence.”  (Proverbs 19:11)

On our way to church Sunday Aaron said something, then Bethany said something, then Caleb said, “Did someone push the echo button?”

M and I looked at one another and laughed. Where did that come from? The echo button?  Just had to share.

blessings,

dani

“Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.”  Psalm 147:7