March 24 – “Holy creativity, Batman”

Sometime after dark, whenever that is now that it's Daylight Savings Time, on Tuesday night, Josh and Christi and Zak and Caleb drove up.  They are taking their own Spring Break this week, and have a day or two here in Galveston.  Cailyn was still here when they arrived, so we got a taste of the chaos yesterday promised to be like when all six of the grandkids and their parents would be here.    And we were not disappointed.  Actually we loved pretty much every minute of it.  Especially the classic kid stories that will certainly go down in Vaughan family lore.  Some were as simple as Caleb's nod to the character quality of alertness.  He stood at the back door checking out the two puppies who were at the time happened to be standing at the back door checking out the new little human.  He has become quite the Batman aficionado thanks to the encouragement of his older brother and his cousins.  So imagine our delight when he let loose with a Robin-esque, "Holy mackerel."   Zakary impressed me with his creativity.  We have the old iron frame to an antique sewing machine that we made into a table after Hurricane Ike.  Before said natural disaster the machine was actually operational.  Now there are moving parts, but not enough to bring any element of purpose to the movements.  At least that's what we thought.  Then Zakary arrived.  He happened to be down there near the foot pedal.  Of course he's a lot closer to it than I am.  That's my only explanation for not seeing this obvious use before now.  He pondered the moving foot platform and the huge wheel that spun when he pushed it.  His eye fell on the three or four pine cones Chris has in an old wooden box nearby.  The wheel in his head joined the machine wheel in turning.  And before long the idea burst forth from the inner reaches of his subconscious.  He carefully placed one of the pine cones near the wheel in a bend of the frame that appeared perfectly suited for just such a burden.  Then, just as carefully, he began to move the foot pedal.  And the wheel began to turn, slowly crushing the pine cone until bits and pieces of those little sticky seed things began to fall off.  I was faced with a personal dilemma.  Do I try to rescue Chris' pine cone, or do I wait and see how Zak reacts to the situation?  Not even a question.  I was hooked.  What could he possibly see here?  Would he be upset at the destruction?  Would he worry about getting into trouble?   I didn't have long to wait for my answer.  His eyes lit up as the light bulb in his head proved too bright to contain.  His smile pulled me to the floor with him, as I queried, "Whatcha got going down here?"  The question opened up the floodgates of his imagination.  For no longer was this an old sewing machine ruined by evil flood waters.  It had become none other than a productive, exciting wood chip making machine.  Of course.  What was I thinking?  It all became so obvious to me as he took the pine cone and ran it through the process again and again, each time removing more and more of the offending appendages.  We gathered the newly formed wood chips and stored them in the old wooden box Nani had so conveniently provided for just that purpose.  And to top it off, we realized that not only had we made a nice handful of useful wood chips, but what was left of the pine cone formed … drumroll here, please … a miniature Christmas tree.  Amazing.  The discovery was so significant to the advancement of mankind that later in the day I saw Zakary demonstrating the wood chip removal process to his cousin.  What a bonding experience for them.  What an eye-opener for me.  Way to live outside the box, Zak.   Isaiah 63:7 says, "I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us — yes, the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses."   Father, I sure consider these grandchildren as an incredible act of your kindness toward us.  Thank you.  Amen.