Overheard....

Son L, lamenting doing his math: "I can't wait to get to algebra.  It has got to be easier than this."

Daughter G:  "L, there are two kinds of people in the world...algebra people and geometry people.  If you get algebra, geometry will probably be hard.  But if algebra is hard, you'll probably get geometry really well!"

Overheard....

Me to son C, after he sneezed: "God bless you!"

son C, with a smile:  "He already has."

Overheard....

At a Coney Island restaurant after church today, as Little Man repeatedly tipped his glass down to drink from the straw:

"What is this water that keeps mysteriously appearing on my pants?"

Overheard....

While thanking God for the food before dinner tonight, Little Man prayed:

"Dear Jesus, thank you for my family and my friends and this food and everything else in the world except for satan and his minions, and things that taste bad."

Overheard......

While driving home on the highway, in the new suburban, our boys were playing some kind of made up game where they each claimed a vehicle on the road around us, and then "raced" each other in these vehicles. Little Man actually said,

"I know! Let's pretend we're all brothers and then....."

You know your child has been learning about a Biblical Worldview when.....

.....you are discussing the movie Spy Kids, and you ask your children why they think the older sister treated her younger brother so poorly at the beginning of the movie, and one of them immediately says:

"because everyone is born a sinner."

Overheard.....

We were watching a movie the other night that included a love story as part of the plot, and there was inevitably a kiss. Our boys were making choking noises and shielding their eyes, which made me laugh!

Son C: "Mommy, why are you laughing?"

Me: "Well, you're just acting so funny about this kiss. You've seen me and daddy kiss thousands of times and you don't do that when we kiss."

Son G: "Yeah, but you don't chew each other's mouths off!"

Son C: "The victims of these kisses always look like they are getting their faces chewed off!"



Really? Victims?

I predict they'll change their tune in another ten years or so (and please don't tell me it's less time than that! Let me have my dream.) And, in case you're wondering, the movie was "The Man from Snowy River" and the kiss was not very steamy.

Overheard.....

Little Man overheard a news snippet this evening, in which a mom was defending a questionable parenting decision and said, "I'm one of the best moms I know."

Little Man turned to me and said, "Well, I guess she doesn't know you then!"

Awwww. I love that guy!

Overheard.....

Some of our neighbors put sealant on their driveway over the weekend, so they blocked off their portion of the sidewalk with caution tape. Son C, in an effort to avoid the caution tape/driveway, accidentally rode his bike across a small portion of their lawn. And got yelled at. He felt badly about getting yelled at, and as we were talking it through later he made a very insightful comment:

"They don't have any kids to take care of, so they put all their attention into their grass."

Lord, help me to give careful attention to that which lasts!

Overheard.....

As I was silhouetted in the doorway, saying my last "Sleep well" and "I love you" to L and C, L said,

"I've grown accustomed to your shape."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, while on a breakfast date with son C:

C: "What is morse code?"

Me: "It's a means of communicating without words. Long and short clicks on the walkie talkie stand for different letters, so by listening to the clicks and figuring out the code as you go, the other person can spell out the words you're saying."

C: "Oh, kindof like piano!"

Me: "Ummm, yeah, like piano" (??)

Overheard.....

Son C to a neighbor boy he knows well: "You know what I love about you? You're not embarrassed to call yourself fat."

Overheard.....

Son C to Little Man: "Do you know why mommy's cookies are so good? Because she bakes them with love!"

Little Man: "No she doesn't. She bakes them with chocolate chips just like all the other mommies."

Overheard.....

After tucking sons C and L into bed last night, I was standing in their doorway saying "I love you" one more time, and C said to me:

"Mommy, your words make my heart soar. You are very encouraging."

His words made my heart soar!! We have been talking a lot at our house about words that build up versus words that tear down. I told him this was a great example of words that build up!

(and yes, he got another kiss!)

Overheard.....

11 year old son G: "Bad things still happen, but if you're a christian and you know Jesus, you can get through them."


After church last Sunday, daughter G leaned over to me and whispered with a tremor in her voice, "I really sensed the Presence of God in the service today."

When I shared this with my friend Emma, she said, "doesn't that just warm the cockles of your heart?" (not sure how to spell cockles ~ but yes, it did!)

6 year old Little Man: "F - O - R spells for!"

Overheard.....

10 year old L, during lunch, with all his siblings present: "Mommy, do Little Man and C know about s*x yet?"

And this is a cute one, but about a serious subject:

During devotions at co-op this morning, Little Man requested prayer for the people of Japan, and that "the nuclear power point won't explode." (he's been watching his older siblings make power point presentations for virtual co-op!)

Overheard.....

We were driving with the windows down yesterday, and daughter G was not happy that her hair was being blown. 8 year old son C observed, "girls and hair have a certain kind of relationship with one another."

So true!

Overheard.....

Little Man is working on skip counting by ten. In his math book today there were pictures of groups of marbles, ten in each group. He was to skip count them and tell how many there were altogether (without counting each and every one). Afterward, he was explaining what he'd done to his 8 year old brother C.

Little Man: "In skip counting this equals 30, but in real life it's 32."


(I think we still have some work to do!)

Overheard.....

We have been learning much about Moses the last few weeks, as we've read the first five books of the Old Testament which he authored. He was truly an incredible man and had such a unique relationship with God, in that God spoke to him face to face. In and of itself, that's pretty amazing.

We weren't quite to this point yet in our group reading last week when one of the older children let it slip that Moses would not be allowed to enter the promised land. Little Man (age 5) got this horrified look on his face and asked again to confirm, "you mean Moses does not get to enter the promised land?" When I said "yes", his little face crumpled up and he began to sob. He was so sad for Moses! It was cute and sweet and sad all at the same time.

Yesterday during our Bible reading time, Little Man suddenly looked up with a beaming face, and said:

"Moses did get to go to the Promised Land, because heaven was his Promised Land!"

Overheard.....

In history and Bible we have been learning about the tent Tabernacle that the Lord instructed Moses to make as a dwelling place for the Lord's Presence while the Israelites were traveling to the land God had promised them. God gave incredibly specific instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle and all its parts, which we have read about in the book of Exodus. We have also looked at other books, lots of pictures, and are in the process of making our own model of the Tabernacle.

This morning we were talking about how plain the Tabernacle was on the outside (the outermost covering - or "roof" - was made from the hides of sea cows, possibly manitees!). The golden objects and fine curtain "walls" were reserved for the inside of the Tabernacle. I asked the children what this fact might teach us about God, and 8 year old C said:

"I think it means that it doesn't matter what we look like or what we do on the outside, it matters what's in our hearts. Our body is like the tent of the Tabernacle and we have the presence of God inside us, just like the Tabernacle had the Presence of God inside it."

WOW!!!!

I admit, I was floored. Not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that, and not from an eight year old.

I am SO thankful for what the Holy Spirit is teaching our children as we study His Word together!

Overheard.....

At bedtime last night....

Little Man: "I made up a band. It's called the Elvis Band because they play Elvis songs. Elvis was a really good singer before, but then... (looks up at me with big eyes)....you do know that Elvis is dead, right?"

Me, trying not to giggle: "Umm, yes."

Little Man: "Well, even though there's lots of people in the band, all of them together can't sing as good as Elvis could."


(I don't know where this is coming from! I don't think I have ever talked about Elvis with him!)