February 23 – “An outside day”

Hey, all you Northerners.  Guess what I did yesterday?  I mowed and edged the grass.  Got to use my brand new grass blower that I got for Christmas, too.  Ah, that’s the life here on our tropical island paradise.  Of course I was pretty sore last night.  Still am. 

Last night we had a cousins’ night of sorts.  Kel and Christina went to a church conference in Houston, so we had their boys most of the day and for the night as well.  Then Cailyn heard about it and, not wanting to be left out of anything, decided she wanted to come, too.  Actually Nathan and April were busy getting ready for their garage sale today, and they hadn’t yet cleaned out Cailyn’s room.  So … sorry Cailyn.  Hope none of your secret treasures are revealed in your absence only to be cruelly sold into garage sale oblivion. 

We spent some time over in 40 Steps playing in the dirt.  That’s Josiah’s name for the vacant lot next door.  Guess the name has taken hold.  We all use it like the name has been posted for hundreds of years.  Jachin and Micah also spent a lot of time riding those scooters called razors.  They did have their helmets with them this time, though, so Chris wasn’t quite as on edge about it.  I got a kick out of Josiah.  He put on Cailyn’s spare helmet that we keep here and tried to ride her little undersized, training wheel adorned bicycle.  Couldn’t quite figure out what to do with the pedals, but he was very proud to be “riding a bicycle.”  And then when Jachin and Micah left the razors unguarded to go take a water break, he jumped on the opportunity.  He grabbed one of them and headed down the sidewalk.  He did pretty well, too.  I followed at discreet distance to make sure he didn’t fall off the edge of the world or anything.  I could hear him mumbling something as he went along, but I couldn’t quite make it out.  Apparently I was careless in my tracking techniques, no doubt distracted trying to hear what he was saying.  As I closed in on him he glanced back and saw me on his tail.  Grinning widely, he turned the scooter around and headed toward me.  And he continued the mumbling.  But this time I could make out what he was saying, because the closer he got to me the louder he got.  Kind of surprised me at first, but the look of determination in his eye told the whole story.  What was the mantra coming from his sweet little two-year-old lips?  “I gonna run you over.  I gonna run you over.”  To his delight then … like any self-respecting grandfather in danger of being crushed, I turned and ran away screaming.

Psalms 67:6-7 says, “Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.  God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.”

Father, you have already blessed us with some great fruit.  Take care of our little guys.  Amen.