Just a funny story: The Joke, Or the Spray, is on Me.

Don’t judge, but at one point I was having trouble getting several of my daughters to get out of bed in the mornings (really I’m still having trouble, but that’s not important), so my husband conveniently remembered that his dad once dumped a cup of cold water on him to get him out of bed. So, I thought that sounded like torture, but thought of my bottle of vinegar/water that I use for cleaning windows, mirrors and floors. That wouldn’t hurt them, but would give them just a little incentive to get moving, I reasoned. I need to make a long story short, here, so let’s just say that it worked pretty well with the 2 youngest ones, because I didn’t actually have to squeeze the trigger. They jumped up as soon as the words “If you don’t get up, I’m going to squirt you with this spray bottle!” registered in their sleepy brains. However, my 12 year old apparently was a glutton for punishment, or just hoped I’d eventually give up and go away. Oops…I forgot to make it short…. Well, she didn’t get up, so I squirted the back of her head. You guessed it, she popped up like a cork, and was so mad that she couldn’t go back to sleep (or maybe the smirk on my face gave her a clue that if she started to lie down I wouldn’t hesitate to use my new-found mommy weapon). Don’t judge. 
Anyway, about a week later, I was bent over with my head in the fridge getting something out of the crisper drawer, when I felt a cold spray hit my rear. I popped up like cork, and turned around to see my 12 year old standing there with the spray bottle in hand and a smirk on her face. Moral of the story is, never take parenting advice from your husband–er, I mean, whatever you sow, that you shall reap. Or, maybe, don’t leave the spray bottle where your daughter can find it? Whichever one works. 

Sophia's Nativity Picture

My 6 year old daughter came to me last night and showed me this picture she had drawn: so adorable, beautiful, and sweet.

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

My youngest daughter Abigail, who is three, was dancing and singing along to the Koinonia High School advanced class dance "You are Worthy" and she started singing enthusiastically "You are Woody, you are Woody, you are Woody!!!" After I stopped laughing and wiped my eyes, I explained to her that the word was 'worthy' and what it meant. I'm not sure she understood or even listened, since she and her sisters were all excited about practicing their dances for a program tomorrow night. I may have to do some more explaining on that one. Kind of goes along with the kid who thought a certain hymn title was "Gladly the Cross-eyed Bear".

Out of the mouths of babes

In the past couple of weeks I've had the privilege of hearing several (unintentionally) funny lines from songs and one Bible verse; the songs were sung by my two year old, and the Bible verse was recited by a young 5 year old girl from our church.
My two year old loves to sing and is pretty good at remembering the words, but sometimes she makes substitutions that are very amusing. Last week she was singing a song she knows well because we sing it as a bedtime song; she sang her own version one morning at breakfast:

'Grama loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!'

At Wednesday night church last week I was in the children's class because my four year old didn't want to go by herself. The teacher asked if anyone wanted to recite a favorite Bible verse, and a 5 year old girl said she wanted to say John 3:16. Here is her version:

'For God so loved the world that He forgave His only forgotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'

Today while I was changing my two year old she started singing the first verse of Amazing Grace, which is her favorite song right now. She came out with:

'Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like (substitute 14 year old sister's name)!'

We all had a good laugh over that. She apparently had enough understanding of the song to know that a name needed to go there, but had grown tired of saying 'me' so she decided someone else needed to be the subject this time.

Just thinking though, I wonder if God thinks it's so funny when I mentally make substitutions like that, unintentionally of course, when I read the Bible or sing a song. I need to be sure I put God and myself and others in the right place in my heart and mind; being sure God is always remembered and exalted above all, and I examine myself before I examine others. Oh boy....