April 25 – “Mama Llama”

Ah, Sunday.  Just a little bit quieter for just a little bit longer, right?  Well, not when you have a five-year-old over to spend the night on Saturday night.  Ezra joined me in the office around seven or so, ready to start the day.  Chris was busy getting ready for church, so he and I had a chance to chat. 

 

We had a long conversation about the huge pile of travel buddy critters he found next to my desk.  He seemed quite fascinated by all of them.  Even had some really good questions about the actual critter behind the critter.  That is, when  he was not schooling me on what he had already learned about them.   But by far, the two he was most interested in were not in the pile yet.  They were still on the table basking in their position as “Most Recent Acquisitions.”  Which ones?  Bowlee the Squirrel (Which he named, by the way).  And Ronnie Ray, the Raven.  He did have a hand in naming that one as well, but I think he just wanted to see up close what a raven looked like. 

 

While we continued our discussion, he got himself dressed for church, all before Nana even entered the scene.  We even heated us up some leftover pigs in a blanket for breakfast.  Hey.  Us guys can be self-reliant every now and then, right?  Well, for a while, at least.

 

We stopped by the donut shop on our way to church.  Haven’t been there since January.  They recognized me right away, and started to fill my “usual” order.  I had to stop her and tell her what I wanted this time – just the box of donut holes.  And by the way … those holes sure didn’t last long. 

 

Ezra was happy to seek out and discover his family when we arrived at church.  We deposited him in their care.  But after church I looked back into the back seat, and lo and behold … we were coming home with two kids.  Cailyn and Josiah were back there.  Hmm.  Two for one trade.  Who got the better end of this deal?  Actually we were all going to Noa’s birthday anyway. 

 

And speaking of the party, Christina had told Noa that she didn’t have time this week to plan a full blown party, since she had to plan everything for their trip to Florida and for Jachin’s graduation.  Noa assured her that she would take care of all the details.  And by golly, she did.  She invited the guests – something like 30 personal invitations - a few more than her Mom expected (A few dozen more!).  She established a theme (Llamas), created some games (Like “Mama Llama” says instead of “Simon Says.”  She’s quite the little Mama Llama, herself).  She had a llama cake.  Even filled up a pinata with her leftover Easter candy.  Pretty impressive.  Most importantly, though, the kids all seemed to have a great time.

 

We went over to their house afterwards for dinner.  Some kind of pasta with meatballs on top.  Pretty good stuff.  We also tracked the Astros progress through their latest attempt at failure.  They were looking like they had another defeat in the bag after losing a 5-2 lead, but pulled off a miracle and tied the game to send it into extra innings.  Then in the bottom of the tenth, none other than the new rookie shortstop crushed a home run to win the game.  Go Astros!

 

John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

Father, thank you for Noa.  She has all the makings of a beautiful and quite talented young lady.  Watch over her as she grows.  Amen.