Pumpkin Patch and Carving

Pumpkin picking has become a fun fall tradition for our family. Every year we travel out to the pumpkin patch located just outside of Clever, MO. We have really enjoyed this tradition every year. This year we were joined by our family, Aunt Susan, Uncle Eric, Emma and Abby. We had so much fun searching all over the pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin, riding in the wagon pulled behind a tractor (Micah enjoyed this part immensely), and roasting hot dogs and making smores over an open fire. Then this evening we carved those pumpkins. Anna's was a traditional pumpkin face, while Micah's was made to look like a puppy. What a wonderful time of year!

Chef Extraodinaire

I am a mom who doesn't like messes, therefore I don't allow the kids to help me in the kitchen as much as I should. But I'm reading a book called The Mommy Manual by Barbara Curtis, and she has encouraged me to forget the mess and focus on the experience. So today at lunch time I asked Micah if he would like to help me make his peanut butter and syrup sandwich. He was so excited to help stir the ingredients and then took the initiative to spread the peanut butter out onto his bread. I then asked him if he would like some cheese-its to go with it, and to my surprise he said yes, but that he wanted them on his sandwich. I hesitated and said, "Are you sure?" He responded with a nod of the head and proceeded to place the cheese-its on his peanut butter. When he took the first bite his eyes lit up and he nodded in satisfaction. He had created a sandwich all his own and truly was enjoying it.

Now to ponder. Had I not gotten past the "mess" and not invited Micah to join me in the kitchen, he would not have had the experience of creating a sandwich of his own, being proud of himself, and learning that he can do things by himself. What life lessons my son learned today in just 15 minutes with mom in the kitchen.

Lord, I know this is what you wanted me to learn today. Help me get past the "messes" and get to the heart of my children. Help me to love them like you love me: unconditionally, patiently, mess and all. Amen.

Baptism and a Kindergarten Mission Field

Yesterday my beautiful daughter was baptized at our church in a service that can only be described as remarkable. Rich had the awesome privilege of baptizing Anna in front of our family and many church friends who had gathered. Anna was the 27th out of 27 children who were baptized last night as a culmination of a 4 week New Believers Class. Last May Anna had asked Jesus to be her savior as we were coming home from a MOPs meeting. I pulled the van over to the side of the road and we said a sinner's prayer right there in the car. It will be a day I will never forget. Yesterday was also one of those days.

Today was just an ordinary day...that is until I found out what happened at school. Anna couldn't wait to get to school today so she could tell her teacher, Mrs. Nicoll, that she had been baptized yesterday. After school Mrs. Nicoll told me that not only did Anna want to tell her, she also wanted to tell the whole class. So at sharing time Anna let the class know that she had been baptized the day before. Anna said that several people wanted to know what that meant. So she told them that she had asked Jesus to come live in her heart and that she had went under the water. She said that some of the kids laughed and thought it was funny, but that others thought it was neat. Today my daughter became a missionary. She shared her testimony with 20 other students, she was laughed at, and misunderstood...all for Jesus. Praise God. If there is anything that I want my daughter to be in the world it is a missionary. God grant her BOLDNESS to share her faith and to win many to the kingdom.