Quotes, Quid et Quo

One of my top love languages is words of affirmation, and my 5-year old speaks love to me like no other. Here a few recent examples for my reference when my love tank needs topping off: 

•  Mom, I have only one best friend, and that best friend is you!

• While my husband was away on a camping trip with our daughter, I commented to my 5-year old, "I don't like it when Daddy is gone for the night."  My boy put his arms around me and said, "Well..I guess that means I'll have to protect you tonight, Mom." And so he did. ♥

My PE students have also been flattering me with their words.

•  One week, I overheard a student say to her friend, "Whenever I finish PE class, I feel like I want to go home and die." I consider that quite a compliment.

•  The following week, a student came up to me after class and gave me big hug while saying, "Thank you for teaching us. This class is my favorite."

While teachers will never get paid enough for all they do, these intangible perks simply can't be beat.  My daughter strives to prevent these words of affirmation from giving way to pride in my heart, however.  Yesterday, she came into my classroom and scribbled this little stick drawing on the board of me teaching PE.  Nice hair, eh?

Speaking of drawings...

My husband had to wear an old suit to church last week because all his new suits were at the dry cleaners. He found a piece of paper folded up inside one of the pockets from our daughter's Sunday School class that must have been drawn three or four years ago based on the handwriting and spelling.   We all got a great chuckle out of her pictorial representation of the Holy Spirit.  While reading the Bible with her dad this past week, she said she'll draw a white dove to represent the Holy Ghost next time.  We also liked the photo of the king or wise man standing on another wise man's head.  I'm guessing that she must have either drawn this photo after our family trip to the circus, or she was trying to use perspective drawing with the one on top standing behind the one in front, but the one in back must be a giant compared to the one in front. 

My kids also fill up my love tank when they pray. Our son has grown especially passionate about intercession.  Our church gives it's members a daily prayer guide with specific prayer requests for missionaries we support around the world.  A different prayer request is given each day, and our little guy can't wait to learn about the person he gets to pray over each day.  The way he pronounces the names of some of those countries make me giggle, but his sincere heart for these people is just precious.

We have lots of friends who are battling cancer right now, so he prays daily for their comfort and healing.  It's so hard to watch friends and loved ones fight such a brutal foe as cancer.  On most days this past month, evening skies were dark, cloudy, and stormy, almost as a representation of the struggles our cancer-fighting friends are facing.  These storm clouds also reminded me to pray for friends living in the Middle East where strife keeps escalating.

This past week, the temperature dropped within the ideal range and the skies have been gloriously sunny and bright.  As sunbeams pour across the beautiful blue sky, I am reminded that God is always watching and continues to hold all things in His loving, gracious hands.

One evening, our daughter prayed for her grandfather who will soon be having knee replacement surgery.  After the prayer, my mechanically inclined 5-year-old asked, "Next time I see him, will he have a mechanical leg?"  I think he imagines that Pops will become some sort of  Bionic Man with a jet pack and other fancy gizmos.  

I'm beginning to wonder if my son has a bionic nose because he recently asked me when I would start packing raw onion slices in his lunch bag for school.

My son's transition from homeschooling to private school has been the subject of much conversation lately.  One big difference between homeschooling and sending the kids to school is the amount of privacy I have.  I knew my 5-year-old had been around me too much as a homeschooler when my plantar fasciitis pain intensified sharply during a misplaced step causing me to shriek, and he said, "Having cramps again, Mom?  I guess it's that time again."

With the 2012 Presidential Campaign well under way, our kids are making some interesting observations.  One evening during the week of the Republican National Convention, my husband turned the TV on downstairs when crowds were cheering loudly.  Upon hearing the cheers, my boy enthusiastically ran down asking, "Is that a football game I hear?" Pondering in my mind some amusing parallels between tackle football and politics, I simply responded, "Not quite, son. It's more like a pep rally before the game."

He must have listened carefully because the following week he said, "If I ever go to the White House, I'm going to tell the President to stop putting us all into so much debt."  I told him that was no way to show respect to those placed in position of authority over us, so he replied, "Okay, then I'll just quote John 3:16 so He'll know how much God loves us."