It was Caleb this time.

Looking back through my posts, I've noticed that I tend to write things about Ben.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's because he's started school this year and is having new experiences.  Or maybe because he's learning more about the world around him.  At any rate, this time it was Caleb who's said the funniest and most compassionate things the last few days.

Caleb loves to make people laugh. 
This was taken poolside last summer.

I'll start with the funny.  I posted this on my Facebook page, but for those of you that missed it....I'll tell about it again.  The other day Ben and Caleb were downstairs playing the Wii when of course they started fighting.  Those two can fight about anything.  I used to jump in right away and try to calm things down, but if I still tried to do that....I wouldn't do anything else for the rest of the day.  So these days I sometimes let them work it out for themselves...so long as there isn't any "touching" involved.  So this is the conversation I hear from downstairs:

"Stop!  Or I'm not going to call you my brother anymore." said Ben.

Caleb's reply, "I don't care if you call me your brother.  I am your brother for always.  You can only not be my brother if you go back in mommy's tummy and come out someone elses!"

Holy Cow!   It took everything in my not to laugh hysterically at the top of the stairs.  It was one rare moment when Ben didn't have a response.


Later in the day I was giving Eli some medicine.  For the last week and a half the boys have been passing around Strep Throat.  (We're praying that Denver doesn't get it before or during his Haiti trip.)  Anyway, Eli woke up sick that morning and was feeling pretty bad.  He'd slept and not ate anything all morning long.  He was only up to get some more medicine.

Caleb walked in the kitchen, saw what I was doing and asked, "Mom, did you pray for Jesus to touch him yet?"  Uh.  Uh.  Uh.  I totally had the deer in the headlights look. 

"Well.....not yet."  I said.

"I'll do it."  So Caleb took Eli by the hand and walked him down the hallway to his bedroom.  I quietly followed behind.  I felt so low and disappointed in myself for not praying for Eli and also so proud and in awe of Caleb and his faith.

Eli and Caleb
(Eli's in the stage where his smile
is more of a grimace. ha!)

I stood in the hall and peeked into the room as Caleb let Eli climb onto the bed first and then got up behind him.  Eli laid down on his pillow and Caleb helped him pull the covers up.  Then my four year old sat beside his little brother, put his small hand on Eli's forehead and prayed something like this:

     "Dear Jesus,

     Thank you for my food because I forgot to pray before lunch.  And please touch Eli because he is really sick.  Please take his sick away.  In Jesus name, amen."

Then Caleb told Eli to go to sleep, climbed down from the bed and met me in the hall.  I asked him, "Caleb, do you think Jesus hears when we pray and that he helps us?"

"Yep."  Then he took off.  There were toys to play with and things to do.  I, however, stood in the hallway for a moment.  I stood still and took the time to pray for my sick little guy and to thank God for the faith of my Caleb.  I know that Caleb doesn't understand it all yet, but I just am in awe of him.  I guess that's the childlike faith that God tells us about. 

Baby Quilts for Twins!

 My mom and I made these two quilts together.  Last week I was finally able to go over to my friends house to give them to her and to her two beautiful daughters.  I had a wonderful time catching up and holding her little ones.  Eli even went with me and got to hold them too!  He just loves babies.

This week I am finishing up another baby quilt for a shower that we are having this Sunday.  I'll post pictures of that one after it's given away.




Flowers







Butterflies



The Things He Says

This morning I took the boys grocery shopping with me.  I very rarely...almost never... take all three of them with me.  I usually wait to go when Denver can be home with them; however, Denver is out of town at a Worship Conference.  If we wanted to eat while he was gone then we all had to go together.

Before we left I told them that if they were really good while I was doing my shopping that we would eat at the McDonald's there in Walmart before we took Ben to school.  We did our shopping and all three of them were pretty good.  Of course Eli wanted out of the cart, Caleb wanted in the cart, and Ben wanted everything he saw...but all an all it was a good trip.

At McDonald's we ordered, found seats, got a million little cups of ketchup (which still didn't turn out being enough), each picked out our own kind of pop and settled down to pray for our food.  As the boys started eating I noticed that there was a television behind me that was giving updates on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  I asked Ben to switch seats with me so that I could see the television.  After we traded spots, he asked me why I wanted to watch the television.  I told him that there had a been an earthquake in Japan.  He knows what an earthquake is because he's heard about the one in Haiti.  Then I told him a little bit about the tsunami.  He didn't understand that as well and wondered if the people were going to surf on the big waves.

Anyway, if you remember back to a previous post, Big Boy Decisions - Hard for Ben and Mommy, Ben agreed that we wouldn't get a new cat so that we could instead use the money for Denver to go to Haiti again. 

So today a few minutes after telling Ben about Japan's earthquake he looks at me and says, "Is Daddy going to Japan to help those people with their earthquake too?"

"No, Daddy isn't going to Japan.  He's still just going to Haiti."  I replied.

Ben smacks his hand to his forehead in relief and says, "I hope the boys and girls in Japan get their schools and homes fixed, but I'm glad Daddy's not going cause then we could NEVER get another cat!"

Oh my Ben.  How I love you.

When I told Denver on the phone later this afternoon, his response was "ahh...the priorities of a little boy."

Ben didn't mention anything else about the earthquake the rest of the day.  But tonight when we went to bed he prayed for the people in Japan.  And he didn't once mention a cat.  It made me a proud mama.  It's hard for all of us to think of those outside our own little world sometimes...sometimes it takes a six-year-old to remind me.

Why Do We Keep Going Back?

Last Sunday the boys and I stayed home from church.  Our family had all taken turns being sick last week, so we didn't want to take our germy boys to church to share with other families.  While we were home, the boys and I read a story out of their Bible Children's Story Book.

Our story came from Genesis 14.  In the story, Lot and his family are living in the city of Sodom.  The Bible tells us that Sodom was not a good place to live.  The town was full of wicked people who didn't honor God.  While Lot and his family are living there, they are taken captive along with others from the town.  When Lot's uncle, Abram, hears what has happened to his family, he gathers his trained men and rescues Lot's family and the other people and goods that were taken.

Later we learn that after being saved, Lot and his family return to Sodom.  Really?  They return to the city that is wicked?  They return to the city that was defeated? 

Several hours after reading the story, Ben who's six, came to me and asked, "Why would Lot and his family return to a bad place?"  That's a good question, isn't it?

Part of me wonders...Did Lot and his family recognize how bad their city was or did they close their eyes to things they didn't want to acknowledge?  We've all done it before, right?  Sometimes it's easier to ignore something we don't want to deal with.  If we don't really acknowledge it....then we can pretend it's not there. 

It's like, "I know that there is laundry to do, but if I stay out of the laundry room it's easy to ignore for awhile."  Except that when  you finally go into the laundry room the mountains of dirty clothes are higher than before.  Or how about when God is speaking to you about something he wants you to change in your life...and you do everything you can do to avoid having the conversation with God or those he is using to speak to you.  If I don't say it out loud, or I don't acknowledge it to someone else...I can just move on and forget about it.  Except it doesn't work that way.  It will come up again...eventually.

Or maybe Lot went back knowing that it was a wicked place, but went back because...well...that's just where he lived.  I think we do that too.  We know that there is something we need to change, something we need to do, or not do...but we just keep doing the same old things because that's what we do.

After the kids and I read this story, Denver came home from church and throughout the night began to tell me about everything I'd missed at church.  He told me about who was sick and who was there.  He passed on messages and reminded me of things I need to check on for people and he also told me a little about his sermon.  Part of what he preached about was how we sometimes get into this pattern of "sin, confess, repeat.  sin, confess repeat....".  Yep.  We do.  I do.  It's kinda like Lot...going back to the wicked place.

I know God is speaking to me this week.  I have things to change.  I need to quit going back to a place that God has freed me from....a place where I'm in captivity...a place where I fall back into old routines.  I don't want to go back.  I don't want to "repeat".  If my son Ben knows that we shouldn't go back to the wicked place....then shouldn't I?

How about you?  Do you have things that you keep going back to?  Why?  God doesn't want us to live in these places.  His plans are so much better for his children. 

Oh, What A Week!

Whew!  We made it.  Last weekend I went to Quilt Camp (more about that later).  On the drive home last Sunday I spoke with Denver on the phone.  He told me that Caleb had been throwing up all day....beginning that morning in the nursery.  Ewww....I know.  I felt so bad for not being there.  The poor little guy hasn't thrown up since he was a baby, so he had no idea what was going on.  I was anxious to get home to him. 

I later found out that Eli had gotten sick the night before, but everyone thought that it was because he had gotten a hold of a whole bag of peperoni without any one's knowledge.  I think that would make me sick too.  Sneaking a bag of peperoni is a typical Eli behavior.  He's into much more than his older brothers ever thought about.

On Monday both Eli and Caleb seemed mostly better.  Overnight Monday, I got sick and by Tuesday morning Denver was sick too.  Three young boys with two sick parents does not for a good time make.  Of course I hadn't been to the grocery store since coming back from camp, so our kitchen was pretty bare.  Thankfully my dad dropped us off some bread one afternoon and my friend Erica brought over some crackers and some Sprite.  By Thursday morning we were mostly recovered.

Then Thursday night Ben came downstairs to our room and said, "My tummy hurts".  Denver was out of bed before I could blink and rushed Ben to the bathroom.  By Friday morning, Ben was fine and begging us to eat everything in the house.  He was also mad at us because we wouldn't let him go to school.  While Ben seemed fine, Eli started with some pretty nasty diapers again.

So now it's finally Sunday again.  Eli is getting better, but we didn't think it was a good idea to be sending our germ infested children to church just yet.  So the boys and I are home today. 

We've had a good morning.  We raced cars down the track and separated them by which ones could jump the loop.  We played numerous hands of Toy Story Uno.  I made cookies and the boys ate them.  We read a story out of our Bible Story Book.  The boys played their Leapsters and I cleaned the kitchen.  Finally the boys ate lunch and are now watching part of Space Chimps while they wait for Daddy to get home from church.  When he gets here we're going to have our Official Sunday Afternoon Family Nap Time. 

It's been a great morning with minimal fighting between brothers, but I miss church.  I can't wait to get back next week for service....or...errr...ummm....I'm in the nursery next week.  I hope none of the kids throw up in there on MY week.