How Rain Works

Ben and I have some of our best and funniest conversations driving in the truck. It had been raining and cool for quite a few day when we left to meet Brian for lunch today. Ben: Why does the weatherman keep making it rain? Mom: The weatherman just tells us what he thinks will probably happen with the weather. God chooses if it will rain or not each day. Ben: Why does God keep sending rain for us everyday? Mom: He decided that someone around here needed it. Plus, it makes the plants grow and washes the earth so it is nice and clean and smells great. Quiet for a few minutes... Ben: EEEW!!! I know, maybe God has a button that he just pushes to turn the rain on. Mom: Maybe you're right. I'm not exactly sure how he does it. Quiet for a few more minutes... Ben: EEEW!!! Actually, maybe its a lever. That could work better. Mom: Stifles laugh. Ben: Or maybe he uses a handle like we have in our backyard to turn on the green hose to water the lawn. That could be it. We are still undecided as to the official method God uses to send the rain, but whatever it is, it works.

Thou Shalt Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

So, you try to teach your kids a few basics and they get taken to the extreme.. A month or so ago, we had a neighbor move in with a boy a year older than Ben, so now he has a built in playmate on the weekends or after he gets home from daycare. It was great until we realized that now we had to teach him about keeping the sabbath day holy and not playing with friends on Sunday. We had a Family Home Evening on it and tried to talk about all the things we could do instead and that it was a family day. It was only mediocre. Maddie kept stealing everything for visual aids and the pen for writing our "Can Do" list. Finally, Ben was bored and we gave up. He sort of got it. This Sunday, we went on a walk to a neighbors house to deliver some paperwork before church. Ben rode his bike. Later on, he told Brian how extremely worried he was about what he had done. "We aren't supposed to work on Sunday, but I worked on pedaling!" He was seriously distressed. Brian had to calm him down. Another thing that caused him some serious consternation was the TV commercials they kept running. "Those guys keep saying 'It's a great idea to order today." But it isn't a good idea because it's Sunday." He just couldn't understand why they would say that over and over if it was such a bad idea.

Bless God

Today Ben was praying and asked God to "bless God to be safe today." So sweet that he would think to care about God. Most of us just ask for things for ourselves, but God gives, gives, gives and we really don't think much of him in that way. Some days I want to be more like sweet, pure Ben.

Why Doesn't God Fall?

One day, as we were driving around doing errands, Ben was full of questions about all sorts of stuff. Eventually, the questions turned to church stuff and how churches have steeples pointing to heaven and the clouds where God lives. Ben has so many detailed questions about how all that worked. He wanted to know if the top of the clouds were flat so it was easy for God to walk on and not trip, how he got up there, and my personal favorite, why doesn't he fall through all those holes in the clouds, 'cause see, there are just holes all over... :) My inability to answer the question about God falling caused him some serious concern and he couldn't relax for a while. Poor kid. I wish I knew more to calm his fears. He asked for several days, worried about God's safety before his mind wandered on to other new ideas.