My curious Kate

Kate and I had a conversation at bedtime last night about my chin. She pointed to the dimple and said, "What's that mommy?" I said, "That's a dimple in my chin." She asked about it a couple more times and I said, "I got it from Papaw. He has a dimple in his chin too. It's one of the ways I look like Papaw." She said, "Nooooo. You don't look like Papaw. You're mommy!"

I thought the conversation was over, but then she pointed to one side of the dimple and said, "What's in there?" I laughed and said, "I'm not sure. Cartilage and stuff I guess."

Something’s actually getting through…

The kids and I have been praying for Baby Riley—a little guy in our church who was born with his esophagus separated from his stomach and who has been living at CMH for weeks now with more weeks and surgery to go. I've tried to include them in the process of praying for Riley and his mama, because I think they can relate to the idea of babies being sick and I think it involves them in the overall process of intercessory prayer. (Obviously, intercessory not being a word that I've used with the kids. J )

A couple of weeks ago (I know, I'm late), Sam was praying for baby Riley and he said, "… and help Baby Riley to grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God." For those of you who don't know, that's the verse that I have prayed over Sam since he was born. It's from I Samuel 2:26, and describes young Samuel, who had been a gift to his mother Hannah that she returned to God's work, and the same passage is echoed in Luke 2:52 about Jesus, but adds the word "and man" to the end. So, I am guilty of praying either version, partially because I like that Jesus was favored by God AND by man.

But here, in the middle of our car ride to the babysitter, a very routine event, Sam used the exact wording of the verse that I pray for him. At the time, I couldn't even remember the last time I'd spoken those words aloud over Sam, but obviously, he's heard them. And to quote them word for word—not to win a sticker at Awana or because it was in a song—meant such a great deal to me. That seed has been planted in his heart that God plans for him to grow in wisdom and stature. We talked about it later that night and he said he thought it was really important for Riley to grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God too.

I wrote Riley's mama and told her about the event. It must be a promise if it comes from God through a heart so pure and sweet as Sam's.

Wild Weekend Pictures

We had a really fun weekend. There was snow (finally!) and parties, and more of the six-part Star Wars movie marathon. Whew. We have some great pictures.

The first few are from a Parents as Teachers activity that we go to annually-- the ride-on toys at the skating rink thing. It's really fun and it's a good chance for the little ones to ride around during the winter. Kate wanted to take her new tricycle (she got it for Christmas). She was so tired, because she's fighting ear infections, but she rode for quite a while and got pretty good. I'm sure by summer she'll be chasing Sam consistently.

These next pictures are from playing in the snow on Saturday morning. The kids have been waiting all winter for enough snow to play in, and we finally got it. It was really cold, so we couldn't stay out too long. They both had hot chocolate when we came in, and Sam finally likes it semi-warm. Sam did go sledding in the afternoon with Daddy, but he came back with windburned cheeks!

Finally, we had our movie night. They took baths prior to the movie, so I thought it might be a good time to try putting foam curlers in Kate's hair. She asked for them a couple of weeks ago, but I was skeptical that she'd leave them in long enough to do anything. She slept in them great, and in fact was upset when some fell out overnight. She wanted me to put them back in! After the movie, Return of the Jedi, I took these pictures of my little jedi deep in battle. In the first they are fighting with light sabers (obviously) and in the last they are using the force on me.

And here's a picture Sam took of Kate on Sunday night. Her hair looked really cute!

And another star wars geek is born...

We've been watching the original Star Wars trilogy as a family. Yes, that's right, even Kate. Sam is loving it, and he's quite accurate at his Star Wars theme humming. He cracks me up because he knows parts of the movie because of the Lego Star Wars game he plays on the DS. He'll say, "Oh, in the game, Leia takes off her mask for this part." Crazy.

Last night we finished "Return of the Jedi." When I was putting him to bed, I asked him if he liked it. He said, "Yeah, but I kind of wish we'd have watched them 1-2-3-4-5-6 instead of, you know, 4-5-6 and then the others."

"Yeah, we all wish that, honey. But your dad thought you should have the same confusing experience the rest of us did."