Olivia's burden for her friend....

First of all...my lack of posts over the last few months is not due to lack of material, just lack of time. We just moved from our house in Abbotsford, BC to my parents' house in Goderich, ON for the summer until Shawn is able to find employment somewhere here in Ontario. So, in the midst of all that going on, there hasn't been a lot of time to record all the little things here that would normally qualify as 'noteworthy'.

Now that we are a bit settled, I am trying to make time for these important entries again. Olivia said goodbye to a number of her little grade 1 friends in BC and during her last few weeks at school really developed a passion to prove to her classmates that God is real. She informed me that one day at lunch time, she polled her class to find out who believed in God and who didn't. Apparently there were a few who said they didn't and one of them was one of her friends. So...since that day, Olivia has been on a mission to help this little girl come to believe that God is real. We have prayed for her on many occasions at bedtime and Olivia has had many of her own little 'conversations' with this friend.
Well, the other day, she was in her 'artistic zone' and was making a picture or a booklet or something. I turned to her and said, "Olivia, if you ever want to send your friends in BC a picture or card or something, just let mommy know and I'll put it in the mail for you." Her response was, "That's what I'm doing Mom! I have to prove to _____ that God is real. Otherwise, she will be stuck here when the new earth comes and then she will have to go to Saul." A little confused, but pretty sure I knew what she meant, I said, "Saul??" Olivia says, "Yeah, or whatever that other evil heaven is called." Then I said, "Oh, you mean hell." "Yeah, that's it," she replied.

While we were travelling from BC to Ontario, we had stopped at this waterfront area for a break and the kids were playing around. We kept seeing all these wasps around, but what we didn't realize was that Braden was hitting a wasp nest with his sandal, trying to kill them all. Knowing the nature of wasps, we were completely amazed that they didn't attack Braden and that he never got stung. So, we thanked God for protecting Him, fully believing that to be the reason he never got stung. Olivia must have been impacted by that.

So, now 2 weeks later, she goes on to write this note to her friend that read something like this,
"God saved my bruther's life. Naw that is power from God. Braden was poking at wasps and God saved him."

It's always interesting to me to see how our kids process the information they receive and try to put it all together in life. I'm thankful that our kids have a burden for their friends who don't believe in God, but we are now in the process of helping them to understand how to deal with that in a way that is still loving and respectful, yet still full of faith and truth.

Did you say...Ace?

Last night I was playing a quick game of "Go Fish" (or Goldfish as Braden says) before bed. We were playing with a regular deck of cards this time and the kids aren't too schooled yet on the Jacks and Aces and stuff like that. So it was Olivia's turn and she asked Braden if he had an Ace, to which he replied, "Nope...Gold Fish!" A few turns later, Braden asked Olivia if she had something and since she didn't, Braden picked up his card from the pile. As he picked up his card he smiled and muttered under his breath, "Yes! An anus!" I wasn't sure if I had heard him correctly, but I knew I had when it came to his turn again. With great confidence he said, "Olivia, do you have an anus?" After that came a little pause in the game where Mommy had to gain her composure and politely instruct her innocent little man on the correct name for a certain card.

A little bit of controversy over where Jesus grew up...

Shawn and I were thinking of taking the kids to the ocean in Bellingham yesterday. I guess they overheard us talking and Braden says to Olivia, "What's Bellingham?" And Olivia says in her 'motherly' tone, "Braden, that's where Jesus grew up."

A Single Mother???

The other night I got the rare opportunity to head to the movies with my friend Janelle....leaving daddy at home with the 3 munchkins. When I left they were all downstairs...playing lego starwars with the exception of Julia, who was just motoring around, exploring everything within reach. While in the theatre, I get a call from Shawn, which totally made my heart race! I automatically thought something must be wrong, but found out he was simply calling to tell me what Olivia had said. I guess he left to go upstairs for a minute and he hollered down to her, "Is everything alright Olivia?" She responded with, "C'mon dad, I'm trying to play a video game and I'm watching 2 kids here! What am I, a single mom?"

An excellent question!

The other day, Olivia was walking all around the house with a pile of blank papers and writing lines upon lines of nothing. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied, "Oh, I have to do this to save money for our school." Not really understanding, I asked her how writing lines on a paper was supposed to help save money for her school. She paused and pointed her pen at me and said, "Mom....that is an excellent question. I really don't know."

At least she's honest.

Finders keepers...

We all know the saying, "Finders keepers, losers weepers." Well...Braden came up with his own version today after discovering something that he intended on keeping. He proudly announced to us all, "Finders keepers, I am a loser!"

Think he got that one a bit wrong...we'll have to work on that one before we let him loose in public!

A Woman's Work Is Never Done

The other morning I was completely surprised by Olivia! One of her favourite things to do is to bring Mommy breakfast in bed. So...in her sneaky little way...she began the preparations for another special Mommy treat! Then, she also surprised me by making breakfast for her brother too. After all this, she finally moved on to making some breakfast for herself. She had this major look of accomplishment at this point and looked at me and said, "Mom, girls can pretty much do everything without tiring!"

Spoken like a true woman! I do believe she will make a wonderful wife and mother some day!