November 11 – “Finding Fred”

Well, yesterday seemed to be a much calmer day.  Guess the boys are used to us being here now.  Oh, I don’t mean that in the sense that the first day was bad by any means.  I think it was just that the excitement was wearing off a bit.  Well, that and they realized they still had to do schoolwork while we were here.  Always a mood killer.  But they did their schoolwork pretty much without incident.  We even managed to catch an episode of Scooby Doo in there as well.  Add to that three or four hours on the computer and iPad playing Minecraft, plus that one episode of The Thundermans on Nickelodian.  Or was it two?  I can’t remember what came on before the Full House reruns started.  

It was truly fascinating, watching their little faces melt and mold right into the video screens and become one with the hardware.  It kind of reflected what was no doubt happening within their brains as their neurons melded with the software.  Even two-year-old Luke watched his train video over and over and over and over.  What a great brainwashing tool we have discovered.  And we never even had to leave the house to go outside.

OK, Christi … I hope you kept reading.  I was just kidding.  Chris was here to put the brakes on media time.  And that is one of her goals in life, I might add.  We did spend some time out on the back porch playing in the sandbox and the two huge buckets of water that used to be out there.  Hope you weren’t saving them to water plants or anything.  Luke and Zak decided it would be great fun to upend them and watch the water form train track trails across the deck.  They were right.  It was fun. 

I got a classic text from Nathan yesterday.  I think he misses us.  Here’s how it went:

Nathan: “When are y’all coming back?”

Me: “Thursday morning.”

Nathan: “Ok.  That gives me a couple of days to find Fred.”

At this point I thought it appropriate – no, imperative – that Chris be involved in this particular conversation.  So I joined her in the kitchen and read the text aloud to her as she washed dishes.  When I got to the “finding Fred” part, her head slowly turned around, kind of like the little girl in the Exorcist.  And accompanying the head spin was … (no, she didn’t throw up green goo on me.  This was much worse.) … “The Look.”  After a long few seconds that seemed like hours (OK, Nathan, you owe me for taking the full brunt of that one), she simply said, “Seriously?”

I replied to Nathan: “You just got ‘The Look’ from Mom.  She said, ‘Seriously??’”

And his final response: “Lol. Enjoy your vacation!  See ya Thursday!”

OK, wait a minute.  So did that cryptic reply mean he was just joking?  Was it just a ploy to get us home sooner?  Is Fred still missing?  Do we need to notify the Fire Department?  Hey, you guys from Station Four … keep your eyes open for a little brown terr-uahua.  How about the vet?  Maybe he’s heard something.  Or the pound.  Should we leave word with them?  How about notifying the police department?  Or, wait … should we call out the Coast Guard?  Maybe …….

James 1:26 says “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

Father, thank you for all of our kids and grandkids.  They sure contribute to making life a lot of fun.  Amen.