Friday, August 13, 2010

Love


It seems as though my sweet boy does his deepest thinking in the car. We were in the car on September 11, 2007 when he blurted out, "Mommy, do you know what I did last night? I telled Jesus to GET IN MY HEART!! And He did." And that was that. He just kept on looking out the window. It was so easy and sensible to him. I hope he always feels that way. It still makes me teary-eyed to think about it now.

We were also in the car the other day when he announced, "Mommy, I know what the last thing I'm going to do in my whole life is. I'm going to die and go to Heaven." I said, "Yes, son, that's right." Then he said, "Mommy, I feel worried about sister because she doesn't have Jesus in her heart. What would happen if she got dead?" I did the best I could to explain to him that God knows when we are old enough to understand that we need to choose Him. I explained that God doesn't want any one of us to be separated from Him and that He takes care of the babies and brings them home to Him if something happens to them before they have Jesus in their heart. Then he simply stated that he loved "sister."

I don't know if it was too big of a concept or not. I'm sure that I will know soon. He is just like his wonderful father when it comes to needing time to process things. I look forward to seeing what his thoughts are on this.

I love seeing this part of my son. I love that, even though his sister annoys him, he still cares very deeply about her in a way that is deeper than a simple "I love you." I love that God blessed me with the husband and children that He did, and that I have a chance to help direct them to a different path than I had growing up. I hope that my sweet babies always choose God and always feel a deep concern for those who haven't chosen Him yet.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Pickles Gap Hyperbole

As I typed this in Pickles Gap, Arkansas, the temperature outside was 108 degrees!! I think that I can agree with Benjamin when he says that "this is the hottest place I've ever been in the whole world!!!

We just stopped off at Pickles Gap Village. It was advertised as:
"Within the village, visitors can visit Kiddie Land, which offers rides for the kids. We have goats, chickens, ducks and guineas on site that the kids can feed and pet."

Yeah, to say that that was a stretch would be generous. The petting zoo consisted of 1 goose, 4 goats, a few chickens, 3 rabbits fighting off heat stroke, 1 rabbit trying to escape under the broken down shed, and a white dog with muddy paws. With the exception of the dog, all of the animals were behind high chicken wire. I guess it was a good thing that the goose was behind it. I think that Sir Goose also thought it was "the hottest place he's ever seen in the whole world," and he was not trying to hide his displeasure. Despite my negativity, Olivia really enjoyed it. Benjamin, well, not so much! Olivia kept talking about "dat ducks." Any bird is a duck in Olivia's book.

Kiddie Land was equally as impressive. It had 3 WILD AND CRAZY rides. By "wild and crazy" I mean, it had 3 of those little horse rides that are outside of grocery stores. One played music. One didn't. Benjamin, trying to be optimistic, declared that "these are the most funnest rides EVER!" Kevin, trying to be realistic, muttered, "Yeah, that was tooooootally worth fifty cents." One of the horse rides was the single rider kind that played the theme song from Bonanza. It jolted the children around pretty good. Benjamin said, "I think that this ride only costs a quarter because it is so rough on you. I think it's so rough because it's made of metal and real horses aren't made of metal." He might be on to something!

Never fear, the children escaped without rabies, tetanus, or whiplash! I consider that a successful outing!

On a brighter note, we enjoyed ice cream cones together inside of their cozy ice cream/fudge "shoppe." Olivia was very excited about getting pink ice cream. While we were eating it, she kept looking back at the clown statue that was at the entrance of "Kiddie Land" and saying, "I see dat silly." It was cute.

In the end, it was nice to have a little stop to break up the long car ride. But, if you ever plan to stop at Pickles Gap Village, just know that it is more Evil Spell than Magic Kingdom!