A future in the ministry???

So...how young is too young to be called in to the ministry? We have started a Monday night tradition in our house. We have a family devotion time. Right now, since the kids are still really young, it's nothing too complicated. We're going through a Veggie Tales family devotional. It's really neat. It gives you a little story about Larry the Cucumber or Bob the Tomato. Then it tells a Bible story and gives you a fun activity to do with your kids. (It also includes some discussion questions, but those will still have to wait a while.) Last night's story was about Baby Moses. How "his mommy put him in a basket and gave him a push into the water to keep him safe from the king. A princess found him and kept him." (That's the story in Ryan's words!) The book had us put the boys into a laundry basket and act out a "shipwreck." Rob pushed them all around the living room floor, and they had a blast! Then we shipwrecked on "Ice Cream Island." We ate ice cream and talked about the Baby Moses story. (If you ever get a chance, you'll have to ask Ryan to tell you that story and the one about Jesus and the blind man. It's too cute!) After ice cream, it was time for a family prayer and bath. I don't know if Ryan got the idea while he was in the tub, or what. But he ran out of the bathroom with the toilet paper holder. He ran into the living room, turned it upside down, and set his "Bible story" (the devotional) on top of it. Then he was going to each of us (Rob, Drew and myself) and asking, "Do you want to hear a Bible story?" I guess he's using the toilet paper holder as his podium to hold his Bible, like our pastor does on Sundays. After he went to bed, we cleaned up the house and put away his podium. When he woke up this morning, he was upset that we had moved it. He found it and set it up again in the middle of the living room. So maybe now instead of wanting to be "a man" when he grows up, he'll want to be a preacher!

Who knew our house could be so quiet???

Today was Ryan's first day of "school." He is attending the MOD program at our church. We took him last week to meet his teachers. He got really sad at one point and thought we were leaving him. So I was dreading dropping him off today. I didn't want to deal with lots of tears and having to convince him that he was going to have fun. We had really been talking up the whole idea of going to school (although he REALLY wishes it included a ride on a school bus). He woke up early this morning, a little after 7:00. He came bolting out of his bedroom door and shouted, "It no dark outside, me ready for school!" (He's been getting up before the sun comes up, so we tell him all the time that he has to wait until it's not dark outside before he can get out of bed.) He had a hard time grasping the concept that there was still more than 2 hours until we needed to leave. The morning went by pretty smooth. I got him all ready to go and took him outside for our "first day of school" photo shoot. We grabbed all of the necessary things, or at least I thought we did, and were out the door with time to spare. As I got him buckled into his seat, he said, "Mommy, you forgot to make my hair spiky." So we had to get out and head back inside to spike up his hair using Daddy's gel. Well, me being the crazy-camera-mom that I am, we had to re-do the entire photo shoot...so that 40 years from now we'll remember that he had spiky hair on his first day of MDO. We got back into the car and buckled when he said, "Mommy, I need to go pee pee." So out we got (again). We ran inside just in time to make it to the potty. And out the door we went. (Thank goodness for the "time to spare" that we started the morning with!) He was SO excited to go to his class and see his teachers. He ran in so fast that he almost forgot to kiss me goodbye.

As I walked into the house from dropping him off, I realized that I had forgotten to pack a diaper for nap time (a necessity). So, I had to head back out the door. What a morning! When I finally got home, Drew fell asleep for his morning nap. And, for the first time in a LONG time, the Nordlander house was silent. I thought of all the things I should be doing...but a nap sounded much better. Ahhh....is this what it'll be like every Tuesday and Thursday? Should I feel so guilty for having someone else watch my child so I can do whatever I want? Hmmm...

I went to pick him up at 2:30 and they told me that he had a GREAT day. (In fact, he was the only one in the class to participate in the "Creative Movements" class. And let me tell you, he can move quite creatively....so I'm sure they'll really enjoy him during that time!) As soon as we got out of ear shot of his teacher, he said, "Mommy, my teacher no let me eat my cookie." Immediately I felt guilty...thinking back to the note they sent home. Had they told me not to pack a cookie? Did I pack too much junk food? When we sat down for dinner that night and Rob asked him about his day, he told him the same thing. "My teacher no let me have my cookie." Rob thought to ask the obvious question: Why? His response, "My teacher turned off the light....and nobody could see!" I guess we need to get him accustomed to eating a little quicker. He can prolong the meal process for hours, if allowed. I guess he took too long eating the "healthy" things that he ran out of time for the "goodies." Oh well, maybe he'll learn.

(Update: When I picked him up on Tuesday and asked about his day, he said, "My teacher no let me eat my brownie." Guess he hasn't learned yet!)