Kidlet Hilarity #18

It has been almost three months since I've written down all the funny things the kids have said!! I have kept track of a few, but I know I've forgotten a lot, too!  Here are some gems from the last couple of months! :)

Zachary got a new Monsters University shirt at the end of July, and he wore it to camp one day.  One of our friends asked him, "Are you going to go to that Monsters University school?"  He giggled and replied, "No! It's for monsters."

Zachary made up this great joke: "What did the whale say to the other crying whale?  ......   You are wailing!"

One day at lunch, Zachary came to the table, saw a sandwich on his plate, and asked, "What kind of sandwich do we have here?"

I took a toy with dead batteries, and was looking everywhere for the little screwdriver I use to open the battery compartment.  David heard me asking about the screwdriver, ran to his room, grabbed his toy drill, and brought it to me.

I was trying to talk to Zachary one day while he was reading, and he announced that "When you talk, that makes me dis-concentrate on reading."  It cracks me up when I call for him, and he comes down the hallway with his nose in a book, tripping over stuff all the way.  I have NO idea where he gets that behavior from...or his intense love of reading ...

While getting ready to pray, I started my prayer, as usual with "Dear Lord", but Natalie interrupted me and said, "No, you have to say, 'Dear Heavenly Fadder'!"

Before my birthday, the kids were discussing with Daddy what my gift should be.  Zachary said he would get me a robot.  I said, "Oooh, to clean the house?? I would love a robot to clean the house!"  He said, "No, just to play with.  I don't think I could get you one to clean the house, but when I grow up, I can invent one for you."  Natalie chimed in, "Yeah, because if it was a person, it could just say NO!"

At the beginning of the football season, we were watching the Broncos vs. the Ravens.  Zachary is, of course, a rabid Broncos fan.  Natalie, being contrary, announced that she was cheering for the 'Raisins'. :)

One day at lunch, Zachary came up with this gem, out of nowhere: "Let me preach for a minute.  See this little piece of a chip?  This is a regular person's brain.  See this whole, big chip?  This whole chip is God's brain, because He knows everything, but regular people don't know as much as God."  Great sermon!

We played with water balloons one afternoon, and at supper time, the kids were telling Daddy about their balloons.  David chimed in with, "My pop!" to tell Daddy that his water balloon had popped!  It was his first two-word sentence! :)  His very favorite word is still NO, but MY is a close second.  It can mean 'me', 'that's mine', 'I want to do it myself', or 'I did that'.

I was late for Bible study and running around like a crazy person looking for my Bible bag and letting the world know I couldn't find it even though I knew I had set it by the stairs that morning so it would be ready ... Davey came running down the hall, dragging behind him the exact (heavy!) bag I was looking for!! He definitely understands more than you would think!

Natalie is such a cute little pretend mama. :)  Of course she loves to play with her baby dolls, and she mothers Davey on a very regular basis, but she also has 'pretend kids' who she will talk to in this sweet voice, saying things like, "Oh, you hurt your mouf? It will be okay. Mommy will give you a kiss, and then I will go do my work."  She also asks me to 'babysit' for her babies while she goes 'to the store'.

Our first school verse of the year was "Those who know Your name put their trust in You."  Zachary's version was, "Those who have a brain put their trust in You."

When Natalie doesn't like something you've said to her, she often responds, "Oh, that made me so mad."

Zachary's favorite line when getting ready to go somewhere, and I ask him to find a sweatshirt, is: "Ninjas are tough.  Ninjas don't wear sweatshirts."  Alrighty then.  Ninjas better not whine when they're cold.

Natalie was making a wall with her cottage cheese at lunch.  She showed it to Zachary, and he responded, "Natalie, that is very creative, but why don't you eat your cottage cheese instead of creating things with it?"   He loves to be the little parent. :)

Zachary: "Natalie, don't get physical with me when you are mad.  Physical means hitting or kicking with your body."

Zachary: "I have a Biblical question."

Zachary looooooves the Magic Tree House series of books.  One thing (of MANY) he picked up from them was collecting 'moonstones' - he spends time looking for and collecting these sparkly white rocks - he especially finds them up at camp.  One day, he and Natalie were looking for moonstones together, and she found some to give to him, and then he found a few, and gave some to her! It was so sweet! :)

Davey has upgraded to a 'big boy' toddler bed this month - whew, what a ride! For the first few days, he was climbing up on his toy box to turn on the light - I would get up at 4 am and see his light on, and he would be back in his bed, sleeping with his light on!  I eventually had to move the toy box, and the last couple days have been better, but he still prefers to get up and play rather than nap, so that is interesting some days. :)

When we told the kids we were moving, we told them there would be sad parts, but there would be sweet parts.  Zachary took this to heart, and while Joel was trying to talk him into doing the zipline, Joel mentioned that he wouldn't have a lot more chances to do the zipline, since we'll be moving.  Zachary replied, "Yeah.  That's one of the sweet parts of moving." !! :)

For some reason, I was discussing how many calories were in the Quarter Pounders Zachary and I had had for lunch one day (we took advantage of a BOGO coupon).  Zachary said, "Wow, I'll have to be talking a walk to burn those calories!"

Natalie told me this story about her Toddler Church time:  "We had to share the scissors, but Bella took a really long turn, until her mommy came.  Then she gave them to me, but they went on the floor.  And that was what they did!"

David was getting frustrated with his Mickey Mouse fork at mealtime one day, so he yelled at it, "No, no, Me-mow!" (No, no, Mickey Mouse!)  A couple of days later, he was playing with a car (which he still calls vooov) in the living room floor.  It wasn't doing what he wanted, so he yelled at it, "No, no, Voov!" and bit it!

Zachary: "I'm going to think for a minute.  I'm going to use my noodle.  That's just an abbreviation for thinking, Mom."

Natalie, while reading a Disney book to Davey: "Donald Duck is mad, Davey.  Just like you get mad sometimes."  Davey: "Oh."

Natalie taught Davey to say No Way this week - it is hilarious!! He says, "No Ay!" :)  I try to get him to say, "Love You", and he responds, "No ay".

A sheriff's car with flashing lights passed us today, and Natalie said, "Oh, that policeman is going to get the people who don't honor God, and the people who don't share.  Right, Mom?"

A friend of ours was making popcorn while watching the kids so Joel and I could go on a date, and she was trying to teach them about what makes the popcorn pop (the moisture inside, heat, etc).  She said to the kids, "What makes the popcorn pop?"  Natalie raised her hand, so excited she knew the answer, and yelled, "The MICROWAVE!!"  It's true, at our house. :)

I'm Believing God

God is moving our family.  And He is moving in our family, and in each of our lives.  My husband has been accepted into the Manager-in-Training program with Lifeway Christian Stores, and he will begin his training on October 16th.  This is a very exciting development, and the answer to so many prayers for God to show us what He would have us do, as we have sought His will over the last months.  

It is also very difficult.  We have lived here in western NY state for almost nine years now.  All of our children were born here, and when you work and live as closely with the people as we do at our camp, you become more than neighbors and coworkers.  We are truly a camp family.  A church family.  And I have my MOPS family, and so many amazingly sweet, strong Christian friends we have made over the years.  

On the way home from sharing our news with our closest friends, our camp staff family, I felt like I would never stop crying again. (It's been two weeks now, and I nearly haven't.) And I thought, "Wow.  This is starting to get really hard."  

It felt like we were beginning to cross a river.  The water surrounding us was starting to get colder and deeper, and it would be so much easier to say, "Nope, this is hard. I'm turning around", and just back up and get out.  

But God is so clearly calling us to the other side of the river.  I know there will be deep parts, fast currents, and maybe even rushing rapids, but God is here, in the river, and there will be another side.  Another 'normal', whatever that is. :)  

God's sense of timing and how He works every little thing together for our good is impeccable.  

The afternoon that we were preparing to tell our kids about this new chapter of our lives, we ended up playing as a family on the camp playground.  Zachary has wanted for some time to try to go down the fireman's pole on the playground, but I'm too short to really help him very well.  However, this afternoon, Daddy was there, and was standing ready to help him go down the pole.  

I watched my five-year-old son, who is scared of heights (a quality he definitely gets from me!), perched on the ledge, whimpering in fear. His daddy, who was as tall as the ledge, stood right next to him, perfectly capable, strong, ready and willing to catch him in a split second.  From my perspective, feet planted safely on solid ground, his fear was laughable, ridiculous.  

Isn't that just how we look to God, whimpering in our fear when in truth He surrounds, ready, willing and completely able to catch us if we will just take that first leap?

Zachary ended up choosing to trust, and enjoyed several jumps down the pole with Daddy's help, and even one nearly on his own.  

That night, we began our conversation by talking about the pole. "Do you remember", Daddy said, "when you had to trust Daddy and jump to the pole?  Sometimes, Mommy and Daddy have to trust God for things, too."  I nearly lost it when Zachary's lip quivered, and he said, "But I don't want to move away from camp!"  

"Neither do we, sweetheart.  That's why we call it 'bittersweet'.  Some parts are hard, but there will be good parts, too.  We have to jump.  We have to trust that God has something great for us.  Something fun like going down the pole ended up to be for you."  

I love analogies, but of course with a five-year-old, it's hard to know exactly what they are grasping.  At the end of our conversation, though, Zachary wrapped it up nicely.  "So, Dad, you mean the ledge is like living at camp.  And jumping down the pole is like moving to your new job, and it's kind of scary, but God wants us to jump, and it might even be fun, just like the pole was."  

Exactly.  

I'm so thankful for how God works so many things together for His purposes.  It is no accident that I am currently going through the Beth Moore study Believing God, about not just believing IN God, but actually believing Him.  Not just taking a STAND of faith, but actually walking BY faith.  

Concerning Abraham, Romans 4:20-22 says, "No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, FULLY CONVINCED that God was able to do what He had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness."  

Lord, let my constant prayer be as the father in Mark 9:24 - "Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!" 

I don't have to be perfect.  God will help me to trust Him, and He is there surrounding us, ready to catch us as soon as we jump.