Here's a few random adventures I've been saving up to tell. A while back we had been to Sonic with Cailyn. She of course had their version of a Happy Meal, whatever they call it there. The toy inside was some kind of cardboard box shaped like a three dimensional triangle. And inside the box were some pieces of heavy paper scored to punch out what turned out to be three little cubes. It was a game of sorts, but Cailyn didn't have the patience to sit through a reading of the instructions. She just wanted to know what the "little boxes" were and what we were supposed to put inside them. It took some doing, but I finally explained the whole concept of dice and how they are used. You know, the socio-historical application of small objects used in divination rituals among ancient and not-so-ancient cultures. Oh, wait. That was the teaching Sunday morning. I had to simplify it a bit for Cailyn. For her it became little boxes that you roll on the floor and see which pictures are showing on top. That was enough for any three-year-old. For the rest of that day her cry became, "I wanna roll the ice."
When Josh and Christi came for the funeral this weekend Caleb found the toy robot we rescued from a church garage sale donation my brother Stan gave us for Seaside. It's one of those two feet tall mechanical monstrosities that respond to the commands of a remote control device. Hid Dad and big brother were operating it and Caleb decided it was real enough to play with. So he first ran from it, sing-songing the phrase of defiance that somehow makes its way through every generation of children, "Nani, nani, booboo, can't catch me." Needless to say the robot never could quite catch up with him. So he changed his tactics. As Zak pushed the buttons Caleb joined in dancing the robot dance, twirling jerkily in circle after circle. Now that was one I wish we had caught on camera.
And one final anecdote for the day also involves Cailyn. Chris has been really good at coming up with creative ways to teach our little guys, no matter how young they are. The other day she and Cailyn were sitting at the table with paper and crayons and scissors. Chris set up a dot to dot sequence on a piece of paper for Cailyn to follow. When she finished connecting them all, Chris showed her that she had actually written her own name. That was a cute moment. And certainly one to be commemorated in Cailyn's eyes. She announced that she wanted to cut it out and show it to her Mommy. Not a problem. She began the tedious process of snipping and clipping, one tiny piece of paper at a time. In the process, several stray pieces fell to the floor, so Chris bent over to pick them up. When she straightened back up she was momentarily paralyzed. There sat Cailyn with scissors in one hand. With her other she was stroking her hair, looking for just the right length for her new hairdo. Thankfully the paralysis was only temporary. Chris screamed out, "No, not your hair." It got Cailyn's attention before she could make the final, fatal snip. But the suddenness of the scream had another effect as well. It startled Cailyn and scared her. After about a three count, she started to cry, and ran from the table … into the arms of her DadDad. Cue the soft, tender music and the audience sighing as one, "Awww."
Hebrews 2:18 says, "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."
Father, thank you for honoring us with those little "Aww" moments. They tend to make the "Oh, no" moments fade away. Amen.
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