Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Just when you think...

Tonight as I was sitting on my living room floor, diligently trying to enter our next Sonlight Core into Homeschool Tracker, I heard Puddin say: "I'm so glad I know Jesus, or else I wouldn't get to go to Heaven." Then she continued: "But I'm sorry that Tutankhamun didn't know God, because I would have liked to have seen him in Heaven too."

Now, I didn't try to explain to her that we can't really know another person's heart and whether or not they know (or in Tut's case, knew) God. She's made up her own mind, based on what she saw and heard at the King Tut exhibit. Plus, there's really no sense arguing with Puddin - she seems to win more arguments than she loses.

But isn't it funny how out of the mouths of babes can come something that can erase (at least temporarily) all the bad things? Earlier tonight I was looking around feeling sorry for myself, feeling like a lousy mom - house is dirty, we're behind in homeschooling, we couldn't find Puddin's ballet bag today (so she had to do ballet in Punkin's ballet shoes and had to do tap barefooted), we had take-out for dinner, etc. Then Puddin utters those two sentences, and I remember that it's not the things of this earth that count - it's the eternal things. And Puddin's future is all settled, and her room is being prepared in Heaven - most likely it's pink.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The frozen roach saga continues...

So, today it's time for the frozen roach to go into the relaxing jar. That job, of course, fell to me, since My Hero wasn't home.

For those of you wondering what in the world a relaxing jar is, it's basically just a glass baby food jar with a 'pedestal' inside made of styrofoam. So I was thinking, "okay, just open the plastic bag and dump the roach into the little jar" - until Puddin informed me that the roach has to be upright and sitting directly on the styrofoam.

So, I say a prayer and tip the bag into the jar, hoping that it will fall perfectly onto the styrofoam. No such luck. Silently I'm saying another prayer, this time one of thanksgiving, that I haven't filed my fingernails lately, because they came in very handy to pick up that upside down bug and position it properly on the styrofoam.

Now there's no more roach in my freezer. Unfortunately, the pinning part is next, and I'm sure that will involve much more touching and positioning and pinning on my part.

But Puddin is happy, and to this mom's heart, that's the important part.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

There's a roach in my freezer...

Yep, you read that right - there's a roach in my freezer. How's that for a first post? :)

First let me introduce us. We're a homeschooling family of 4 - me, my girls (Punkin & Puddin), and My Hero (a/k/a Punkin & Puddin's daddy/my hubby). Punkin is 8, Puddin is 6. We are all beach bums at heart, and would love to live in Destin, FL - alas, such is not to be, so we have to be satisfied with the pool in our backyard and a smattering of sand that we've "imported" from Destin.

Now, back to the matter at hand. You might be wondering, why is there a roach in my freezer? Punkin and Puddin are taking a class on bugs at our local audubon center. They've had one class so far, and they explored the nature trails and learned to pin bugs for a bug collection. Today Puddin found a roach (a big roach) outside, and wanted to add it to her bug collection. (Okay, mom confession here - my first impulse was "ick".) Luckily (for dad that is!), the roach was already half gone - he was on his back, legs wiggling in the air. After trying to persuade Puddin not to add it to her collection, and after she continued to be insistent, I asked My Hero to get it and put it in a plastic bag. I actually insisted on two bags. :)

So, now there's a roach in my freezer. He'll stay there tonight, and tomorrow he will go into the "relaxing jar". After he softens up, he'll get pinned in Puddin's collection.

Oh, the sacrifices we homeschool moms make. :)