Cough, Cough

This morning while we were getting ready for church, Gabe was coughing a lot. Todd asked, "Why are you coughing so much today, buddy?"
"Maybe because I ate too much coffee!" Gabriel replied. He didn't even miss a beat, and of course he was quite pleased with himself and his little joke. He sure does keep us on our toes!!

"Deep Thoughts" by Gabe

About a week ago, we were talking to the kids about kindness as we are working our way through the fruits of the spirit. I chose the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate kindness for the kids, and today our pastor used the Good Samaritan story, and it reminded me of our little family Bible time...
I was going through the text, and explaining each part in a way the kids could understand - the priest is like a pastor, the Levite is like a worship leader or other helper in the church, the Samaritans and Jews were enemies, the man had been beaten up and stripped of his clothes by "bad guys" on the very dangerous road. We always ask lots of questions during a Bible lesson, to make sure the kids are following us. So as was explaining how the Samaritan came upon the Jew and maybe didn't want to help his enemy, I asked my children "What do you think the Samaritan was thinking when he first saw the Jewish man on the side of the road?"
Gabriel promptly replied (in a serious tone) with "He was thinking 'That guy should get some clothes on!'".
Well, that wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for, but yeah, that could definitely have been the first thing the Samaritan thought....

Just like mom?

Once upon a time (about 25 years ago) there was a very little girl who didn't like clothes. I can't say why she didn't like them, but I am certain that she did not. Often the little girl would go play at one of several neighbor's houses. Her mother always took care to make sure that the little girl was fully dressed when she left home. Often the little girl arrived at her friend's homes (just one or two doors down) without any clothes on.
When someone in the family would notice the little girls clothes strewn across the yard, they would follow the trail in search of the naked girl. This was such a common occurrence, that the other grown-ups in the neighborhood didn't even notice it anymore. One day when the mother when following the trail, she came upon a neighboring mom and inquired "have you seen my little girl?"
"Yes" the neighboring mom replied. "She ran through my yard on her way to that house over there just a little while ago."
"Was she wearing any clothes?" the mother asked.
"I don't know" the neighboring mom said.
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It seems that neither one of the little ones like that wet bathing suit feeling. Whenever we swim at my sisters, their bathing suits are off before they get to the back porch. So the other day we all went swimming (even TODD!) and in the interest of time, I told the kids to leave their suits on till we got home. At least twice, each of them started to take their suit off. Then we got in the van and drove home. When we got home they all wanted to play outside - "sure" we said...just leave your bathing suits on, and then we will put your pjs on when you come inside. Todd and I were inside making dinner when Jacob ran in yelling "M - O - M" (why is it always mom, dad is right there...) "Cadence is running around outside naked!"

And she was in all her glory, too! "I'm nahked mommy!" she said, smiling at me. She got VERY upset with me when I told her that it is not OK to be naked outside. You can see that as I marched her over to the house to put her bathingsuit back on, she was less than thrilled with the situation. And this morning, Gabe was getting dressed and hadn't found a shirt yet. Cadence, observing the situation squeals "Gabe is nahked, I want to be nahked too!" and proceeded to pull her shirt off. Hopefully, Cadence doesn't end up like the little girl in the story, but I have heard lots of other stories about that little girl and often I think "Cadence is just like her...

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