Monday, September 12, 2011

No Longer a Teenager!

Life's milestones come at you fast! As of today, our oldest is no longer a "teenager," hitting the 20 year marker. Guess we're all getting old. Unfortunately, we couldn't see her today, being at college and all. But at least we did get to spend the day with her on Saturday.What a blessing children are, and what a "curse" to have to let them go. I know it's part of life, but that doesn't make it easier. So to make me feel better, here's one of our favorite stories about LoriAnn, often repeated, and even submitted to a magazine or two over the years:

KIDS HEAR MORE THAN WE THINK!

When our oldest daughter, LoriAnn was just a baby, we were in the process of trying to "wean" her from her bottle. Regardless of the actual contents of the bottle, she always called them "juice." After weeks of effort we had her down to one "juice" a week: during church while Daddy preached so she would stay quiet. Eventually we even tried to do without this one unless absolutely necessaryAll was well until one Sunday when I was talking about God's people during the sermon. LoriAnn was going along without any thought of her bottle...until I said, "And the Jews..." LoriAnn jumped straight up in the pew and started screaming "Juice, Juice, Juice." Which just goes to show that no matter how young they are, kids listen to a lot more than we give them credit for.

P.S. For a long time after that, I never referred to the Jews during my sermons, only the Israelites. Which also explains why through three other children our code word for a "bottle" was "Israelite." As in "How many Israelites did she drink today?"

We Love You, Sunshine! Have a happy birthday.