We're giving a whole new meaning to the term "prayer warrior"

Kate and Sam take very seriously their job of praying for Baby Riley, a friend's child who we've been praying for since before he was born 2 months ago. We started praying for Riley on the way to Jo's in the morning, and since have added other things to the list.

I usually ask them what they want to pray for each day. Kate always says "I want to pray for my daddy," and you never know what Sam will say. He's prayed for Daddy, or one of his classmate's newborn baby, etc. Or, sometimes we thank God for Batman. You just never can tell.

Lately, though, the praying has taken a turn from sweet and loving to competitive and loud. They now both want to pray first, I guess, so at the same time, one of them starts (usually Sam tries to get a jump-start on Kate), and the other yells, "NO ME!" and starts to pray too. It's very loud (I said that already, right?) and Sam usually gets upset. He'll say: "MOM! I was praying! Stop Kate! I'm praying now!" Oh my.

I try to reassure them that God hears their prayers no matter how many people are praying. Really, I'm not sure my sanity will take much more praying that early in the morning.

When my friend Beth called yesterday with an update on Riley's surgery, she said that she knew Sam and Kate were Riley's own team of little prayer warriors. I said, "If you only knew the kind of spiritual battle going on over here..."

The M&M Wedding

In addition to your usual Easter revelry, the kids participated in the long-awaited, much-anticipated Meaghan and Matt wedding last weekend. All in all, they were really very well-behaved and looked fabulous. You know I'm talking about my children, not the bride and groom. I claim no responsibility for Matt or Meaghan, but they could also be described as well-behaved and fabulous-looking, if you were concerned.

We had a couple of really funny moments. Because Stuart and I were involved as "helpers," I wasn't a direct witness to all of this, but feel it deserves recording for posterity anyway. Just be aware that some license may or may not have been taken as these events were relayed to me, and therefore to you.

When Sam was getting ready Saturday morning, he told Stuart, "This is the last wedding I'm going to be in. They are SO BORING. You just get up and then stand there and stuff like that ALL DAY."

As we arrived at William Jewell College, Sam was walking in the lead, with Kate, Stuart and I following behind. Kate started running to Sam, yelling "Wait Sam! Wait for me! Wait for the Flower Girl! Wait for the princess! The princess is coming!" I'm not sure where she's gotten this princess mentality, but it's well assimilated, I tell you that.

They both did very well with pictures and things, though we didn't witness either one of them do that. I hear good things. But I think my favorite part of the wedding was the walk down the aisle. I was at the back sending people down the aisle when Sam and Kate started. It was an outdoor wedding, and I was back with the bride and FOTB waiting for their cue—probably 20 yards away from the aisle runner and back of the seats. Kate and Sam made it up to the aisle, and Sam and our friend Lorinda told Kate to throw her flowers. So she did. The whole basket included. She just chucked it about 2 rows ahead of her on the right. I'm not sure if it hit anyone, but Lorinda scrambled across the aisle and helped her pick it up. Sam was already about halfway down the aisle when he realized he was alone, so he stopped, turned around, and went back for Kate. They walked all the way down the aisle before she threw any petals, and after she threw a few, she asked one of the bridesmaids to help her pick them up. (When we practiced throwing petals, we always picked them up afterwards!) Oh, it was priceless. Fortunately, the bride was just as amused about the flying flower basket as I was, so no harm done.

The kids were to come down and sit with Daddy after the initial prayer, which apparently made Kate upset. I think she thought she was going to stand with the girls. If we'd realized that, we could have easily accommodated, because Stuart was sitting on the first row, which was maybe 2 feet away from the bridesmaids, so she could have just stood there. We weren't sure why she was upset though, so I took her onto my lap. She got down, marched up to Rebecca (bridesmaid #5) and thrust the basket into her hands and said, "HERE!" and stomped back to me, starting to cry. I didn't want to be the story of the day, so I picked her up and high-tailed it to the back. So, Sam walked solo back up the aisle at the end of the wedding, but he looked good doing it.

By the end of the day, the kids were totally wiped out. Sam fought sleep in the car, and Kate gave in completely. It made for a relatively fussy Easter, but we all survived unscathed.

How smart is too smart?

I know. All parents claim to have the smartest, most wonderful kids to have ever lived. The first one is especially so, untoppable really, until we have another, and then we realize that we've hit the kiddie jackpot twice. Right.

Well, my kids are pretty smart. I am bragging, so I won't say that I'm not. Sam has an incredible memory for music and lyrics, or quoting books or lines from movies. For example, most people think of the star wars theme as the "da-da-da da DUM da da-da DA dum" thing. But my son actually sings the little part leading up to it, that I forget exists until I hear him.

But Kate. Oh buddy. It occurred to me yesterday that she isn't yet 2 and a half. Not yet. Just 2. And some of the words she says, and the things she thinks to do. I tell you, it's frightening. One of the fun things that we are now able to do is play games with both kids. I started the other night with memory-- a kiddie classic. We started with just a few cards, and then increased to more and more. I was impressed. So Sam wanted to play Zingo. It's like a bingo game with these word/picture squares. We started slow, reading each card so that each kid would have a better idea of what each picture was. Not necessary. Kate not only figured out how to play the game (that is labeled for 4-6 year olds), but even called the squares out while Sam and I played. it's really not translating well in words, but I'll tell you, it's something.

I'm not saying that she needs to invent the first hovercraft (Sam has his sights on that) or write the all-american novel. But she's really got it going on.

Not that I'm bragging.