David's Prayer and the Yellow Card

Here is a part of David's prayer tonight:

Thank You for the Bible and that every story in the Bible is true and that it is Holy. Help me to obey the Bible every day of my life....and probably every month too.

I love listening to the boys pray and talk about the Bible stories that they have learned in school and in Bible class. Sometimes I have to laugh at some of the assumptions that they make though. Tonight, Nathan told me they were learning about Paul and he asked if I knew that his name used to be Saul....King Saul! It took a little bit of explaining to get that cleared up.

Besides learning about Paul today, Nathan had a bit of an exciting day. He received a yellow card, which is a warning that he was not obeying the rules. He was issued this yellow card because he was climbing a tree on the playground. To add insult to injury, not only did he climb the tree but he got stuck in the tree and had to get some help to get down. When I asked him why he did it, he told me that he was climbing the tree in order to get on the roof of the barn (a shed that looks like a barn). When Brian and I told him that it was dangerous, he said, "No it is not. A squirrel was on top of the barn and he was safe."

All I can do is shake my head!

Questions for God

The other day, David said that he hoped he could ride a roller coaster in Heaven. He said he also hoped there was a Disney World in Heaven because he would like to go in the huge golf ball that was closed when we went to Epcot. I told David he reminded me of his daddy because Brian always says that he hopes there is a movie room in Heaven with videos of all the amazing things like the red sea parting and the miracles of Jesus.

David thought for a minute and then said, "When I go to Heaven, I want to ask God if he and Jesus play Twister." Without missing a beat, Nathan said, "I bet God wins that game."

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

WAIT! That's not how the story goes!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Humpty Dumpty jumped up and shouted "AMEN!

God can put me together again."

Today, the pre-k classes performed in chapel for the elementary, junior high and high school kids. As you can see from the picture, Nathan was Humpty Dumpty, and he did great. He did everything he was supposed to do and even hammed it up a little for the crowd. I am trying my best to get the video uploaded in a format that I can post on here, so hopefully, you can see it for yourself soon.

Once again I found myself making a costume during a crazy week. As homeroom mom, I was responsible for planning Nathan's class party for Valentine's day. I made phone calls, picked up pizza, put together goody bags, made sugar cookies and all the stuff that has to be done for a party for 23 four and five year olds. I also had to make chocolate covered strawberries for David's class party. We had a service night in place of home Bible study, and I made a bunch of cookies for that too. Add in work and some family time, and it was already a pretty busy week.

To top it all off, I am not much of a seamstress, and I was scared to death of what Humpty Dumpty was going to look like. I sort of worked out a pattern on newspaper using a shirt and a pair of pants and then started cutting out Humpty. I can't sew real straight, and Humpty is not the most symmetrical egg. If you look too close, you will see MANY mistakes, but it worked and made Nathan happy.

Even though I am not the best at sewing, I will admit that I have really enjoyed being able to make the Humpty Dumpty costume for Nathan and the indian costume for David. The costumes had a lot of flaws, but both boys have been so grateful that I took the time to make something for them. They proudly wore their costumes and told everyone that their mom made it for them. I am realistic enough to know that they won't always want me involved in everything in their lives and that at some point, they will be embarassed by their mom's "sewing" skills. So, for now, I will cherish every moment where I can see that excitement and pride in their lives.

Box Car Derby

I am really late with this post, but I am desperately trying to get caught up on my to-do list this week. A couple of weeks ago, the Kindergarten classes at David's school had a box car derby. I had never been to a box car derby, so I only had David's word on what was an "acceptable" car. We did get a note from school that suggested the cars be small in size because the kids had to run four laps wearing the box.

In the time leading up to the derby, I had a hard time getting David to decide what kind of car he wanted. I was thinking a simple car decorated like a race car or something like that. I imagined Brian, David, and I working together to make a fun little car. Welllllllll......enter Dad into the picture. I am not sure what it is about Dads, but they tend to have grander ideas when it involves a car in any form or fashion. He started throwing out suggestions for different types of cars (like a corvette), but his very last idea sparked an interest in this naive little kindergartener. My dear, dear husband suggested that David have a Star Wars landspeeder. From that point on, my idea of simple flew out the window.

To make matters worse, because of a very crazy schedule, we were unable to begin the landspeeder until the afternoon before the box car derby. We went into the garage in search of a good box to use and Brian pointed out one that he thought would work. I mentioned that it might be too big and he said, "No, that will work great." So, we emptied out the box and got to work. We cut. We molded. We painted....well, I spray painted it outside in the FREEZING cold. We duct taped. We created a masterpiece....a HUGE masterpiece.

I must say that I protested the landspeeder the whole time we were making it. I am just a simple girl, and I didn't see the whole fascination. By the time it was done, Brian admitted that it was large, and I think he was also a little concerned that it might be too heavy. I made Brian walk in with David, so that he could tell the teacher that it was not my idea and I participated in making it under protest.

While I thought it might be a bit overboard, I was pleased that David was so proud of it. As he and Brian walked down the hall with it, other kids were talking about how cool it was. David's teacher thought it was pretty neat too. The funniest thing was that several dads came up to David after the derby was over to tell him how neat his landspeeder was. (I think they wished their wives had not talked them out of their idea for a great vehicle for the derby.) One guy even offered to buy it, but David told him no.

The car derby was pretty neat. They had a parade of cars where all the kids walked around the track single file and showed off their cars. David's smile was great during that part. Then they put them in groups of three to actually race. They would run a lap around the "track" and then stop to get their windshield washed. (Some six grade girls sprayed water on their face and wiped it off.) They ran another lap and then walked through tire inner tubes. They ran another lap and then stopped for a pit stop (glass of water), and then ran one more lap to finish the race.

David started out strong, but tragedy struck as he rounded the first curve. He was busy smiling at the crowd cheering for him and he lost control of his landspeeder. The landspeeder was a bit front heavy, and he fell and flipped over just like you would see on a cartoon. It was tragic and extremely funny all at once. The crowd gasped. I looked at Brian and I could tell that we were both thinking the same thing. David's sweet little heart tends to get embarrassed very easily, and we were both afraid that he wouldn't want to finish the race. However, that determined little boy got right back up and kept running as hard as he could. He made up some serious ground, but one more fall on the back side of the track and a heavy box slowing him down keeping him from regaining first place.

After it was all over, I told David how proud of him that I was. I told him that it is hard to keep going when we fall down but that he did the right thing by getting back up and continuing the race. I told him how doing that was the mark of a true man. Nathan came up to David a little later and asked him if he won the race. David said, "I came in second, but I fell down and got back up and kept racing. That is all that matters."

You know, people can tell me all they want about how it is better to have a small car so the kid has a better shot at winning. Honestly, I agree with them. I was the one who was totally against the landspeeder. However, I would not trade the lesson David learned for anything in the world. As he gets older, life is sometimes going to be a little "heavy". He might take his eyes off of what he is supposed to be doing and looking around at the crowd. He is going to fall down. When he does, I hope he remembers a day in January of 2008 when he fell down in front of a lot of people and then got back off and ran the race of his life.

Here are some pics of the big event:

A very proud boy sporting his landspeeder.

And they are off!

A determined (but a little weary) David coming out of one of the pit stops.

David booking it around the track.

David with Mrs. Kiihnl at the pit stop.

David coming through the finish line.