January 17 – “Bouncy houses and princesses”

Saturday was Cailyn's second birthday party. It was at a house in a new subdivision in LaMarque. They wanted to do it there so they could fit a massive bouncy house in the back yard. It was a big one, too. I don't know if there's supposed to be a weight limit on those things, but at one time there were at least four adults and one pretty big older kid in there along with some of the little ones. It was quite appropriate for Cailyn, though. It had big pictures of one of the Disney princesses and her prince counterpart. I can't tell those princesses apart. Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and the girl from Beauty and the Beast – they all look the same to me. I guess the guy was Prince Charming. He didn't look like the Prince Charming from Shrek. He's he only one I can keep straight. I guess that's because that movie wasn't a pure cartoon, so I mostly stayed awake through it. I must confess that I haven't been inside many bouncy houses, so I am by no means an expert. But this one was kind of fun. Of course the only reason I went in was to coax Cailyn to join me. It worked, too. To enter the thing you had to climb up a little slide that led to the door flap. The little slide proved quite daunting for some of the toddlers. Hence the need for well-meaning adults to step in and help. The door was about a foot and a half high, so you had to squeeze in under the flaps. A safety measure, I'm sure, so no little kids would fly out mid-bounce. The interior was as you would expect for a bouncy house – bouncy. And quite roomy. It was like walking on a boat in high seas, though – up and down and constantly moving. Recipe for seasickness. Everybody kept their pizza down, though. The best part of the whole experience was the exit. It was a giant slide. And the only way to get onto the slide was to climb up a big hum if you were a little guy, or if you were one of the larger sized vermin like me, to hurl your body over the barricade. I only did it once, but I sure wanted to get back in. Sadly, though, it was time to blow out candles and open gifts, so I never made it back. I was most impressed with Micah and Jachin when they arrived. They were not very happy about the prospect of going to a girlie birthday party with a bunch of little princesses and a "Hello Kitty" theme. But they responded in awesome fashion. They came in costumes. Totally appropriate, I thought. These two boys came to the princess party dressed as … knights. How perfect is that? 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." Father, help me to recall the childlike ways of trust and transparency as I put aside the childish ways of selfishness. Amen.