January 2 – “Out of the woods”

Caleb had a birthday party at his other grandparents' house in Crosby back on New Year's Eve.  Christi decided that it would be a good opportunity to have a party closer to home so maybe more family could be there.  Seemed to work out pretty well on that count, but I think she had a lot of work to do.  Must have been hard to "relax" and visit family with all the preparations going on.   It was a train theme ("Two, Two," rather than "Toot. Toot."  Very cute).  The kids started out by painting a row of boxes arranged to look like a train with each box containing a letter and spelling out CALEB.  I got to be the engineer for some train rides (wagon pulled around the driveway over a track drawn with sidewalk chalk).  I think they tried to do a game of pin the number on the locomotive, but it didn't last long with the younger guys (two-year-olds).  I did see Jachin and Zak gave it a try, though.  Pizza from Little Caesar's was the fare of the day, along with birthday cake, of course.   The random activities that just kind of erupted were by far my favorite ones.  The Powell family lives out in the country, surrounded by lots of trees.  Made me nostalgic for when we used to have trees in Galveston.  Also for when we used to visit relatives in Spring out off of the old Budde Cemetery Road.  That used to be out in the country.  I think it's an upscale subdivision or something now.  Anyway, one of the most popular activities was the little swing they have attached to one of the trees in the front yard.  They had a great time as the adults would swing them so high that they could check out the roof for lizards and bugs and such.  It was fun to watch the games they made up using the pool balls and pool table and not sticks.  And they were masters at creating games from their imagination using absolutely no toys at all.   But the most fascinating thing that I saw all day came during "The Hike."  BobBob, my counterpart on the Powell side, took us on a hike through the woods.  He told them to look for armadillos and raccoons and all sorts of critters.  Thankfully the only critter that made its appearance was the doodle bug (rolly polly?) that Jachin found.  What shot this event to the top of the list, though was one simple interchange between the four-year-olds Micah and Zakary.  As we got far enough in so that we could no longer see the house behind us, Micah queried, "Does anybody know how to get back out of these woods?"  Without missing a beat, Zak answered with a completely innocent and trusting, "We don't have to know the way out.  We just have to follow BobBob."  Wow.  How humbling.  We don't have to know all the details of the future.  We just have to follow Jesus.  Thanks, Boys.  In Josh's words, "That'll preach."   Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."   Father, forgive us when we try to find our own way out of the forest instead of just following you.  Amen.