We’re just home from Carolina! And we had the BEST time!

It was just LittleBit, LittleMan and me with my favorite Aunt and Uncle and it was a BLAST!  We did a corn maze, shot tennis balls over a big pond (my daughter has shockingly good aim), watched at least 5 different kinds of birds eat breakfast just as we sat down to do so, played with a wooly-worm, sat on tractors, picked up leaves.  It was FANTASTIC!

The best part was homeschooling on my Aunt & Uncle’s porch.  It’s HUGE!  We got to sit basically outside and just relax our way through addition for two solid days.  It was GREAT!  It was also easier to take breaks (because outside was “right there”) and it just didn’t feel like school.  I love that!

LittleBit and LittleMan got to attend a tiny church for the first time in their lives.  We worshiped with fewer than 20 other sweet believers this morning at the most adorable little country church.  During the visitor introduction, my daughter told the entire congregation, “My Daddy’s name is D and he works for the band and he’s on the road and so we pray for him and we love him and you should pray for them too.  You could come to a concert…”  I quickly asked her to thank them for letting us worship while the primarily grandparent crowd applauded.   Now, my Aunt called the pastor a couple of days ago to tell him our children would be there, so he called them (meaning, only mine… they were literally the only children there) come up for a children’s sermon.  He gave them little plastic dolphins (which turned out to be whistles I learned on the drive back to Georgia) and asked them what would happen if someone didn’t show up to make their part or paint their part at the dolphin factory.  LittleMan emphatically said, “OH!  You know what else?!?!  LIGHTHOUSES! If there’s no LIGHTHOUSE then the ships and the dolphins will all get wrecked and the storms will come and BLAST them!!!!” The pastor looked at him, forced back a grin and said, “Yeah, buddy, I wasn’t exactly going with the lighthouse angle this time, I was going for the how-they-make-the-dolphin thing.”  LittleMan raised his eyebrows and cocked his head, “Yeah, well lighthouses are IMPORTANT.” And then he dropped his glance and let the pastor go on.

At the end of the service, the congregation stood in a circle and took turns praying.  Now, if you have/ever had a 4 or 5 year old in church, you might agree that said little ones waiting through 18 adults taking turns praying personally might make you nervous.  Made me nervous, too.

LittleBit stood between Favorite Uncle and me, LittleMan stood between me and Favorite Aunt. After the first couple of people, LittleMan sat down on the edge of the altar, but didn’t let go of our hands.  The two of them prayed silently, waited quietly as each person in the circle thanked God for the gift of their many blessings, asked forgiveness for their sins, and prayed over the members of their tiny community of faith.  It was a beautiful, beautiful thing that my children were able to hear the prayers of the faithful, these veteran saints, and were still enough to hopefully soak in some of the grace that is the gift of fellowship.  After the prayer, LittleBit proceeded to talk to anyone who’d listen for a minute (there were several takers) and LittleMan darted into the fellowship hall and charmed the church hostess into a pickle, some bread, a fruit cup, and enough grape juice to give him a vibrant mustache. Hey, they have my priorities — people and food.  Fortunately for them, neither seems to have both.  They had a grand time, and really I think it was a GREAT experience for them; we go to a rather L-A-R-G-E Evangelical church, so the tiny warmth and tradition of a more liturgical body was unique for them — everyone standing and verbally responding to the pastor as he read.  I learned today that wherever my children are, wherever they go, there will be other believers who speak into their lives, pray over them, delight them with the warmth of their pouring out love for Christ, or enrich them in simple fellowship.  I won’t always be there when it happens.  But today, I had the privilege of being witness, and I thank my God for these sweet people and their pastor who saw fit to include my children in their worship — loud whispers, prayer solicitations and all — and speak and pray over them the Word of Life.

LORD, Jesus, 

Master, Friend… 

I don’t know how many times I’ll get to see the kind of blessing — the kind of Old Testament “preparing a table” fellowship — that I saw today, but THANK YOU!!!!  LORD, You know every voice You’ve prepared to speak to my children; every leader, every encourager, every exhortation, every Truth-speaker who will bless them with Your Words of Life.  Holy God, I won’t get to hear all of them, *haven’t* gotten to hear all of them: nursery workers praying over fluttering eyelashes, Sunday School teachers sharing the account of David and Goliath, Awana leaders leading Scripture recitation.  But I got to hear these today, LORD.  And I heard what You said about them, and I hear You. 

LORD, truly, Your sheep hear YOUR voice — thank You for the gift of that picture! — and I pray that as LittleBit and LittleMan walk out their daily relationship with You they will hear Your voice clearly behind them saying, “This is The Way, walk ye in it” and that they will “test the spirits” to be sure those speaking into them line up with what You have already said.  LORD, when they’re on the plains of Africa, when they’re on a plane bound for elsewhere, when they’re on a campus hours away, when they’re down the street at the neighbor’s house, I might not get to hear the words spoken over, to, or about my children.  Jesus, I pray that they would be only YOUR Words and that You would use them to build up my Angels and strengthen them beyond measure as they grow in wisdom and favor.  Especially those voices they hear regularly… especially mine… O LORD, I need You!  Thank You for my blessings! Amen.