Gospel As Explained by a Four-Year-Old With a Little Loaves and Fishes Thrown In

Jesus died on the cross. So, He died on a cross for our sins. The sun was dead. Jesus died on a cross. And then Jesus wanted to have some candy but He couldn't make the candy. He couldn't make anything because He was gone on the cross. Don't worry. He's gonna get alive, mommy. And then He got alive and He can make the candy and corn and the weeds. He maked everything for us. He wanted to die on the cross. No wonder He wanted to die on the cross. We are his children. He is bigger than us. No wonder we call him 'Jesus who died on a cross!' He is so big! He can reach the Bible study and He can reach everything. The only thing that He couldn't reach was the sun because the sun was hiding in the clouds. And then Jesus saw the sun and He knew where the sun was. But there was storms and rain and He carried the cross but He was alive. But He didn't have a middle name. What's His middle name mommy? And off He goed to his journey but first He said to all his children and He said "Come, I will save you. I died on a cross." And He got home to His journey home and then they saw that He was alive. Children and people were happy. But they needed food. A little boy passed by. "Hi, I am Joseph. I come. I am a little small boy. Do you want fish and bread." Jesus said, "I have lots of people here. How can I do that with not lots of food and lots of fish and lots of bread." The little boy said, "Well, you can break it in half of course." "Oh ,yes, I will break it in half," said Jesus.

Some of My Favorite Quotes From Today

During our family prayer time dd3 said, "I wanna say a prayer just fo mysef, okay? God, thank you for da foxshes and da rainbows and da ballewinas."

During same family prayer time, dd(almost)6 humbly said, "God you made the Herdmans." I guess she understood one of the most touching points of our read-aloud this week, "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever" by Barbara Robinson.

And during our nightly pick up of his room, I inquired of my son, 7, if his sweat pants needed to be washed or not, to which he replied, "No, I've only worn them, like, 3 or 4 times." I suppose that I might have gone a bit overboard on telling him he didn't have to throw his jeans in the wash after one wearing!

Two Cutie-Pie Things That My Baby Girl is Saying These Days

Fwoot Be-uh = Root Beer (she still doesn't say "rrr" even after being back from UK for a year!)

Medicine Cough = Cough Medicine

She's growing up way to fast. Wish I could just stop time somehow...

Who Knew That Walkers Needed to be Pretty?

I recently heard this conversation between DD(nearly)6 and her father-with-the-tibial-plateau-fracture:

DD: "Good thing you got a different walker than at the hospital! It was horrible! I didn't even want to look at it."

Dad: "Why?"

DD: "Uh...the stripes."

I guess she thought that those stripes on the hospital-borrowed walker were not at all pretty enough.

How My Son Would Rate TV Shows

In discussing the movie ratings system, my son was extolling the virtues of "Y" to his sisters telling them that it was "very, very good for kids, and it's not like 'R'!". His baby sister, simply to annoy him, said, "But I like 'R'!"(which sounds more like 'ahhhh', but I digress). The sherriff in our family (which would be the boy) promptly said, "But 'R' means that shows have very bad words in them. Words like stupid! Now, do you like those words? I don't think so!"

If only it were so.

How To Choose Jammies and All About Spiders

Two conversations that had me cracking up tonight and also swooning with affection. First off, it's baby daughter:

"But mama, I'm weally scawed of a mommy-long-legs! Because they can kill you!" (Well, at least she's stopped referring to every spider she sees as a tarantula.)

And next up, daughter in the middle:

"Mom, what jammies are you wearing tonight?"

Me: "I'm not sure. Why?"

Daughter in the Middle: "Because I wanna be like you."

Me: "But I don't have any Cinderella jammies."

Daughter in the Middle: "No, mom. I'm not talking about the pattern!"

Me: "Well, okay, how about I wear shorts and a t-shirt like you?"

Daughter in the Middle: "But mom, my bear doesn't have any shorts and she wants to be like me!"

Yes. Now I definitely see the dilemma.

Perhaps She Has a Future in Broadcasting

Miss Middle announced this morning as she arrived in our room: "I just came in here for some ammouncements, Mom!"

"First, there is a spider web on my light."

"And second," (pointing proudly to her outfit) "This matches!"

Praying for Piglet

The three-year-old was wailing from her bed this evening. I went up to inquire about the circumstances since she had just been down to visit me where I had prayed with her about her fear of "scawee bad dweams". I went up to give her a talking to, truth be told. But when I got there, she held up her stuffed cuddle, Piglet. "I prayed for you, remember? You will be fine. You need to go to sleep now." To which she sadly replied, "Yeah, mommy, but Pigwet's still scaaad. You need to pray for him too." Or maybe, sort of like Piglet says of Pooh, my little baby just wanted to be sure of me.

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."

Do you think God's answers prayers for stuffed Piglets? Let's hope so. For the sake of three-year-olds.

My Daughter Comments on My Hair

"Mom, is that a wig? 'Cause it looks good today!"

I do surmise that these little people are all about keeping us humble.

What? No Bank Holidays?

DS6 (while looking at our English calendar): "What?! Yesterday was a bank holiday and we missed it?! And dad could have stayed home for that day?!"

On Why, Because of the DS, We Will Never Be On TLC's "How Clean Is Your House?"

"Mom, you might want to go get the...umm...umm...umm...feather duster and go clean off that mower!"

Those first children are a bit an*l retentive now aren't they?

My Two Favorite Quotes From Saturday

On the way home from seeing "Horton Hears a Who", my son said to his daddy and I, "Man, mom, that Jojo had 96 sisters! That's a lot of responsibility, because he's the oldest of course!"

And on the way to said movie, my youngest, who is three, looked at her older sister, who is five and said, "Do you like my tights, sisdah? Do you like my haih bows?" And big sister replied, "Yes, but you should have worn your spotty pants because they matched better with that dress." I guess the fashion sisterhood begins very early!

Then and Now

Last year, for Easter, we were just settling into our new home in London. Hubby and I reflected today on the differences between the two. Here is a comparison.

Last Year
Were in a new (to us) semi-detached home, with little to no Easter decorations.
Were worshiping here.
Took public transport to church with lots of hung-over folks who wondered why we were so dressed up.
Had lunch at McDonald's.
Played at Hyde Park -- no egg hunt.
Couldn't find Easter baskets and kids got Easter bags instead.
Couldn't find jelly beans or many Easter goodies, but the Brits sure love their large chocolate Easter eggs and have them in any theme available. Somehow the Bart Simpson egg didn't really "speak" Easter to us. Alas, we skipped the British tradition!
Had fresh hot cross buns.
Got dressed up for church only to realize that this was NOT apparently an Easter tradition in Britain.
Hubby had a four-day weekend and we spent it visiting the Broadstairs beach and Dover Castle.

This Year
"Back Home Again in Indiana"...(Sing it with me, people. Okay, so if you're not a Hoosier, you don't even know that's a song!)
Worshipped at our home church and sat beside my mama today.
Took our van to church and wondered to myself how could it be full of so much junk, yet again.
Had our traditional Easter feast at mother's -- ham, baked beans, bread, buffet salad, asparagus, cheese potatoes and chocolate pie.
Had an egg hunt in grammy's back yard.
Dug out the Easter baskets that had gone unused from last year.
Jellybeans galore!
I miss those hot cross buns, and all those yummy British bakeries.
Got dressed up for church only to be attacked by a three-year-old weilding a pink chapstick with landed right in the middle of my new dress.
Hubby has a four-day weekend and we spent it shopping for a new vacuum and doing laundry.

Since being back, we find it interesting to play the "what were we doing last year at this time" game. Thanks for reading along!

So, Maybe We'll Write a Book

I was on the phone with a friend today while my two girls played outside. I was watching from the back door and noticed that the three year old was chewing something. This is never a good feeling when you're the mommy and you know you haven't given your children anything to eat. And they are outside. Where it is really muddy and yucky. In the middle of our phone conversation, my friend heard:

Me: "What are you eating?!"

Three Year Old: "Ice."

Me: "Yuck!! No, that ice has lots of yucky stuff in it!"

No response.

Me: "Lots of yucky stuff is in that ice like maybe..bird poop!!" (Do other mothers use such exaggeration to get their children to stop doing gross things?)

No response. Child keeps chewing.

Me: Yuck! Spit it out!"

Finally, the three year old obeys and spits out the ice.

At which point my friend said, "You know, we should write a book or something. The things that we hear each other say on the phone, without really seeing what's going on, are just so silly. Imagine if some random person heard that."

It's true, when you're a mother, you could be quoted saying some really, really weird things. I wonder what the neighbors think?

Girly Conversation to Remember

As a teacher, I was always amazed at the conversations girls had as opposed to boys, who often played together without much conversation. Today, I witnessed just such a conversation between my own two young daughters.

DD 3: "Sowwy, Sisdah."

DD 5: "For what?"

DD 3: "For talkeen back to you."

DD5: "It's okay. I'm not the mom. She's the mom (pointing to me)."

DD3: "I won't be wude to you anymoe."

Baby DD to Middle DD while trying to "Wook at Mommy and Daddy Buh-dees (Birdies) Out Da Window"

"I NEED THOSE RE-NOP-AH-LAHS (translation: binoculars) RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

The Downside of a Happy Heart

My middle dd who is known as the happy girl in our family, because she is always singing and smiling, recently shared with me the downside of her joy. "Mom," said she, "I have got to quit humming. I really need to. I really try to quit, but I never can. Even at night, mommy, I hum. But I really want to stop!" Of course, my response was, "Why?" To which she matter-of-factly replied, "Because it's hurting my throat!"

It's Official...I Have Lost My Mind

I began pulling the laundry out of the washer and putting it mindlessly in the dryer. Then I spent time (or so I thought) filling the washer with a new load of clothes. I started the dryer. I put the soap and fabric softener in and started the washer. I left to go get dinner started. Then, I had an "aha" moment. I went to the washer to confirm if my "aha" moment was correct. And, sadly, indeed it was.

That "load" of laundry I had washed? It was one pair of socks.

Fashion Sense for a Three-Year-Old

My middle dd (newly turned 5) and I are known to have some real "rows" (as they say across the pond) over clothes. Who knew when I was so happy to have given birth to a daughter a mere 5 years ago the battles that could ensue with such a young girl over what she deems appropriate to put on her body. I quite mistakenly thought that these kinds of dicussions only took place with pre-teen and teen daughters. I.was.so.wrong.

Anyhoo, this trend is now beginning with my youngest -- who is not quite THREE, people! Her new requirements for chosen clothing for the day --pockets. Oh, and skirts that twirl.

God help us all.

I Guess She Forgot A Lot About Me

We were getting ready to go and get the girls hair cut today. "C,mon," I said to all of the children. "Let's get in the car so we can go and get our hair cut." Shocked beyond belief, my sweet middle daughter (4) incredulously replied, "What, mamma? You mean, you can drive?!?"

I guess having one car, walking everywhere, and taking loads of public transportation while we were living in London had convinced the dear child that mamma simply couldn't drive.

So, as that little story attests, we arrived safe and sound in America last week. Many thanks for all of your prayers. I should be around the blog more often now.