Work it out

Overheard in my backyard this morning:
Xander: Millie, Can Ladd PLEASE be an adopted alien?!?
Millie: No, Xander. “Ladd” means “A small man.” He can’t be an alien.
Xander: Ok, we will have to do rock, paper, scissors to decide.

Free Wheelin’

At our breakfast table this morning, Millie (4) suddenly announced: “You know the problem with sin? God gave people free wheels. I don’t understand that.”

The Potty Train

Mom: Let’s stop by the bathroom first. Look, that little friend is probably stopping here, too.
Millie: She is pretty little. I don’t think she is on the potty train yet. 

Xander and the Bible

Xander: Mom, What happens in the first five chapters of Isaiah?
Mom: In the year King Uziah died, The prophet Isaiah saw a vision of God in Heaven.
Xander: That was in Isaiah 6. I want to know what happened in chapters 1-5. 

Conversations with Xander

Xander (holding folded paper and pen, ready to make a new book): Mom, I’m going to write my own Bible. 

Me: I love it when you write books. But you know that God’s true Word is the only real Bible, so you can’t really write your own Bible. 

Xander: Ok. I’ll just write my own Septuagint. 

Gifts

Millie (4): I'm a helper. When I see someone who needs help, I help them. That's the special gift God gave me. I'm a helper. 

The Magnificent View from my Kitchen Window

June 19, 2016

Max: Xander, Can I put your head underwater for just a second? It will feel like you are an ocean explorer!

Xander: No! It will feel like bath-tizing!

Dads

Millie: why are we at JBU?

Me: we are picking up your Dad. 

Millie: Which Dad?

Me: Your Dad

Millie: We are picking up my stepdad?

Me: Ummm, you don't have a stepdad. 

Millie: Oh, yeah. 

Baby Birds

We've been watching a robin's nest and four eggs for the last couple weeks. To the children's great delight, two of the baby birds hatched last night. When we came home from running some errands this afternoon, we were sad to see that one of the baby birds had died. Millie melted my heart when she looked up at me with deep eyes and said, "This is so sad. We lubbed those baby birds with all our hearts." Precious girl. 

Millie (3): When I grow up, how will I find my husband? Maybe I can pray to God and ask Him to give me a husband. I will ask him for a husband with a big tummy. Because Dads with big tummies protect their families. 

Self Control

Family conversation in our van today:

(Undisclosed child yells something unkind.)

Me: (child's name), Remember, Self Control means that you think before you act, and you make the right choice. 

5-year-old: Think BEFORE you act? No, you ACT before you think. That just makes more sense. 

Lucas looks at me and mouths: "We're screwed."

😂😂😂

You say tomaeto, I say tomahto

Maggie: Star Wars is the most popular science fiction movie in the world. 

Max: Maggie, it's not science fiction. It's *space opera.*

Deep Thoughts

January 24, 2014

Maggie (6): "Mom! WHAT IF chickens ate chicken. You know, like a chicken eating a chicken leg? I think that could be a sign of respect... For a chicken. "

Conversations with Xander

Conversations with my favorite 5-yr-old:

Xander: Mom! Are you making popcorn?

Me: Yes, I am. 

Xander: Are you making *Christmas* popcorn?

Me: Yep!

Xander: But are you making "Fa-la-la" Popcorn? That's "Christmas" in Latin. 

One-year-olds and Siri

December 10, 2012

Lucas told me that our 1-year-old, Alexander, talks to Siri on his iPhone. I didn't believe him, so he showed me. 

Alexander took Lucas' phone, immediately pressed the button until it beeped and proceeded to say "ahlcfr emparx bllbbbm" to the phone. Siri politely responded, "I don't know what that means."  

These are strange times we live in.

Conversations with Xander and Millie

Millie: Mom, can I be married when I'm 15?

Mom: Well, legally, yes- but you have to have permission from your mom and dad first. You have to be 18 to get married on your own. 

Millie: Can I do that? Be married when I'm 18?

Mom: Well, yes, but the most important thing is that your marry the right person, not that you get married at a certain age. 

Xander: And I am NOT the right person, Millie. 

Millie: Ok, then I want Jakin. 

You heard it here first, people. 

Hospitals in Heaven

December 6, 2012

Interesting insight into my 5-year-old Maggie's mind today in the car: "Mom,  I used to think there were a lot of hospital beds in heaven. You know, because people's bodies are broken here, then they die, then they go to heaven." Great reminder for her and for myself about the hope of heaven and the truth that there are no broken bodies in heaven! I think she is still processing all she saw and heard when my mom died. Love these sweet moments with my Maggie Mae.

On the Subject of Good Books

October 25, 2011:

This fall we started a nightly family reading time of longer chapter books for the first time. It's been priceless. Our first selection: Charlotte's Web. Max and Maggie have been totally engrossed, and tonight when we were reading the end of the book when Charlotte dies all alone, I was tearing up as I read to them. Amazing how a good writer can even make you care about one kind and selfless little spider.

Conversations with Maggie

(After working all afternoon on Operation Christmas Child with Dana Ray, Maggie marched up to me to ask me a question:)

Maggie (9): Mom, are you proud of me? Are you proud of my hard work?

Me: Maggie, I am SO proud of you. You worked so hard, and you did a great job. 

Maggie (with an enormous, charming smile): Well, how 'bout you turn that pride into CASH. 

 Can't make this stuff up!

Conversations with Millie

Millie (3) and I just walked out our front door and stopped to look at the sunset. 

Me: Look at that. It's so beautiful. Why do you think God gave us sunsets and sunrises?

Millie: Because it's pink. 

Me: Yes, but why? What was the reason? Why do you think God decided to do that?

Millie: Ummm... Because of Adam and Eve. They had to take care of all the animals. And they had no parents. And they needed them.  And Adam and Eve were never kids.  They growed down into kids.  But that's a dipperent story. 

Childrens' minds are so fascinating to me. Sometimes I wonder if I really listened to all the words she's jabbering through, I would find they unlock the key to the universe. Or that they are complete nonsense. One or the other. But it sure is precious.

Later, after I had tucked Millie into bed for the night, I had to pop back in there to put some clothes and shoes away. She was jabbering away and pauses when I came in. "I just talkin' to God, Mom. I just praisin' Him."

No wonder Jesus said "Let the little ones come to me, and do not hinder them. "