September 23 – “Too much daytime”

Christina’s Dad put on a shrimp fest of his own yesterday over in LaMarque.  He cooked and served shrimp po-boys at noon, shrimp enchiladas at three, shrimp etoufee (however you spell that) at six, and shrimp wrapped in bacon and cooked on the grill after that.  It was an amazing array of delectable goodies.  No frills beyond the shrimp dishes to take up precious room in your gut, either.  Just shrimp stuff. 

It was a really hot day, though.  I went to Micah’s and then Jachin’s flag football games before the shrimp event.  I was never so glad that Chris reminded me to take along an umbrella to provide some shade.  Even little Josiah had a comment to make about the afternoon heat.  On his way back inside after a tour of play in the front yard, he noted, “There’s too much daytime out here.”

Cailyn was with us for the day.  She was torn between playing on the swing and hanging out with newly announced preg-ee Aunt Christina.  As an added bonus, Christina’s sister was there, and she is not just pregnant, but incredibly pregnant.  At one point Chris found Cailyn in one of the bedrooms.  Cailyn whispered, “Nani, I have a secret.”

Chris: “You do?  What is it?”

Cailyn: “I have a baby ion my tummy like Aunt Christina.”  At this point she lifted her shirt to reveal a small sliver of soft tortilla.

Chris: “Why don’t you use something besides a tortilla?”

Cailyn: “No, Nani.  This is how big it is in Aunt Christina’s tummy.”

See, Cailyn had just seen the ultrasound picture.  The hunk of tortilla looked a lot like what was identified as a baby in that picture.  Too much baby stuff going on around here.

At one point while everyone else was outside, Josiah snuck into his brothers’ room to find something exciting to play with.  I heard him mumbling to himself, so I stopped at the door to listen.  I’m not sure if he was allowed to be in there or not, but he was moving as fast as his little legs could carry him.  And the whole time he was saying, I find fire truck.  I find fire truck.”  He was one motivated little kid.  Finally he let out a small wimper of success, his own child-language of Eureka.  And he made his way out of the closet carrying a toy pirate ship.  That’s when he first saw me and grinned.  Holding up the ship he declared, “I find dis fire truck, DadDad.”  That was obviously OK by me, so he made his way to the living room, where the Woody doll (the cowboy from Toy Story) became his firefighter.  Uncle Nathan, we need some help over here – some firefighter clarification.

Psalms 31:16 says, “Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.”

Father, take that smattering of creativity in those little guys and allow it to blossom into a life that is always full of fun and wonder.  Amen.