Friday I got the pleasure of taking care of two boys (Tornado 4 yrs. and Little Bear 17 mos.) that I used to babysit for on a regular basis. The youngest of the boys, Little Bear, was actually born while I was still caring for Tornado and his older sister, Princess-with-a-Smidgen-of-Dirt (now 7-years-old).
The mom, Her Awesomeness, called me in the middle of the night and said, "OK, Baby is coming (They had yet to find a name for him). You ready to come over?" I was the 'go-to' girl and had agreed to come over to watch Princess-with-a-Smidgen-of-Dirt and Tornado, no matter what time of the day, when the mom, went into labor.
BTW, I walked in at midnight all frantic, concerned that it had taken me 8 minutes to get there and afraid I'd find her on the floor pushing Baby out and it'd be my fault. However, Her Awesomeness, smiled and ushered me in the door while she was having a contraction. That kind of calmness happened for the next 30 minutes while her husband got things all packed and ready. She'd be talking and say, "Oh, hold on," walk over to a piece of paper and right down the time and duration of the contraction, and then say, "ooo, that was a strong one. OK, anyway, I was saying...." CA-RAZY! Make a note, that I was 3 months pregnant at the time and thought, "Man, labor's not so bad!" HAHAHAHAHAHA
So, anyway. Her Awesomeness asked me if I'd come to the rescue once again and keep the boys before MDO started this week. Of course, I said, "YES!" right away. (I am very naïve and will jump at taking care of kids...no matter how many.) She asked me if I need to pray about...insisted actually, but I knew my answer would still be 'yes.' I didn't know what it would be like with two babies (one walking, one crawling) under the age of two and one very energetic little boy.
So, I headed off to her house at 8:00AM after a 7 o'clock appt. with the chiropractor...I'm naïve, but not stupid! Of course, this meant that Ham had been up since 6:45AM. That's really early for her. By the time we got done at the chiro. she was ready to go to sleep. However, once we got to Her Awesomeness's house, Ham was excited and wanted to play.
Within an hour of Her Awesomeness leaving me with Tornado and LB, my chest began to tighten. LB could not contain his love for Ham and was tackling her every chance he got. Ham would crawl about two feet and LB'd be crawling right behind her and then tackle her legs in a bear hug. Ham would lay there, immobilized, arms splayed out and probably staying as quiet as possible to make LB think she was dead. It didn't work...he only tightened his grip and then Ham would let out a whimper.
This went on all day. Poor Ham. She was no worse for the wear, but she was exhausted from playing 'dead' all day.
Anyway, when it was time for Tornado and LB to take a nap, I put LB down and Ham and I went to read Tornado a story. I asked Tornado to pick out a book and at first, he wanted his Bedtime Bible stories. But then, he said, "No, no. I want this one. This is the Bible." Before handing me his Bible, which was a pocket-sized one with the tiny writing, he said, "Here I'll pick out a story. Please read this one." Tornado was instantly transformed to I'm-the-Calmest-Boy-Ever.
When I looked at the story he was pointing to, I almost said, "Let's read a different one," but decided, it's the Bible. It's really OK to read the Bible. :) It was the story of Pontius Pilate sentencing Jesus to be crucified. As I began telling how the Jews were yelling, "Crucify!" I'm-the-Calmest-Boy-Ever (a.k.a. Tornado) said, "I know what happens." I asked, "Yeah?" He said, "Yes. They take him up a mountain, to a cross, and these soldiers play a GAME to see who gets Jesus' clothes and then Jesus DIES." I was astounded. I said, "Yes, you're right, baby. And Jesus forgives them." He nodded and said, "I know dat. And he came back to life in just two days." I said, "Three days." He said, "I know dat." :)
As I laid him down and covered him up, holding Ham in my left arm, I wanted to weep. How incredible. He gets it. At least, he knows it to the extent that a four-year-old can. And he is not questioning it to be true. To him, it's fact. It's not a fable or a story of a good teacher. It's Jesus, the Son of God. Who died for us because we need him. We do things like gambling for a dying man's clothes. We're mean sometimes. And Jesus wasn't like that. He was always good. Tornado knew that it was preposterous that Jesus 'DIED' while men mocked him.
I love children.
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