March 22 – “STOMP”

We were inundated with young cousins yesterday.  Cailyn came over after school so April could do some studying for school.  She is working toward completing her bachelor’s degree in nursing, so days off from work are not exactly fully restful occasions at their house.  And true to the flurry of workish activity over there, Nathan was doing some coordinating work for his second job.  On the other hand Kel and Christina and their brood spent an hour or so over at the Pirates exhibit at Moody Gardens for his day off.  I guess they couldn’t think of anything else more exciting to do afterwards, so they joined us for some Papa John’s pizza.  Oh, and April did make it over in time to grab a slice of pizza, too.  Would have been nice to have Josh and Christi and their boys here, too.  He’s pretty swamped developing his presence as a new pastor, though.  Not that they could have jumped in the car and flitted down here from Waco anyway.  He must be doing a good job, though.  We had some visitors at Seaside a Sunday or two ago who were members of First Baptist Church in Waco.  I shared our Waco connection with the pastor of Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, and they immediately shared that their neighbors attend there and they speak very highly of the new pastor.  In fact they insisted that the whole church “is so glad he is there.”  Always good to hear someone praising your children.  Keep it coming.

When we get those youngsters together I always try to keep what’s left of my hearing on red alert for any fun tidbits of children’s wit and wisdom.  Hey, that sounds like it would make a great title for a book.  A compilation of all the funny and poignant quips that have come out of the mouths of our babes over the years.  I’ll have to take that under advisement.  One more thing our kids can have published after I die.  Well, yesterday was no exception.  The two most quoted ones of the bunch are Cailyn, probably because we see her so much, and Josiah, probably because he is just three years old and is much less inhibited that the others.  He is the kid that refused to take Tylenol for a fever because “Hulk doesn’t need medicine.”  He didn’t give in until his Mom assured him that even the Hulk has to have medicine every now and then. 

As it happened, yesterday I went out with the kids to the vacant lot next door that we affectionately refer to as 40 Steps (Named, as you might recall by Josiah.  Why?  No idea).  Micah was working to dislodge a branch from one of the palm trees.  I guess he was helping his Dad prepare for Palm Sunday.  I didn’t see Jachin around.  He might have stayed in the house conserving his strength for baseball practice.  But Cailyn and Josiah were together.  Prime research targets.  Now, Christina had nudged Josiah to tell me what happens in April, but I didn’t hear his response very well, so I started there.  I asked again, “What happens in April?”  He looked at me with one of those condescendingly frustrated looks and “patiently” replied, “That’s when rabbits lay eggs and baby birds crack out of the eggs.”  Yep.  That’s what I thought I heard earlier.  Changes my whole perception of the biological sciences.  After that I deemed it wiser to simply observe and listen.  Sure enough I did manage to record one brief interlude between the two.

Josiah (to no one in particular): “Hey, an ant.  It’s an ant.  I see an ant here.  Over here.  That’s a bad ant.”

Cailyn (obviously captured by his tone, his sense of urgency): “Why is it bad?”

I was wondering the same thing myself.

Josiah responded, unknowingly borrowing from the philosophy inherent in a famous phrase originally attributed to General Phillip Sheridan back in 1869.  Sheridan actually said, “The only good Indians I have seen were dead.”  That phrase was subsequently perverted to, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Josiah’s version?

Josiah: “Because it’s alive.” (Followed, as you might have expected, by a powerful, Hulkish STOMP).

Psalms 25:4-5 says, “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”

Father, thank you for giving me the chance to be around to witness some of the wonder and excitement of a child’s discovery.  It was great when I saw it in our boys.  It is still great to see it in their children.  I’m so glad things like that don’t change.  Amen.