The Wedding

Once upon a time in a not so very far away kingdom lived a beautiful young maiden who possessed the powers to make her Daddy do whatever she wanted. He was weak to her powers and crumbled every time she batted her eyes at him. This is their story...

A few days ago, Olivia and I had this conversation...

"Mom, can I marry Daddy?"
"No, Daddy is married to me."
"But who can I marry?"
"Well, how about you ask your Daddy when he gets home."
"Ok!"

So that night she popped the question.

"Daddy, will you marry me when I get older?"
"I'm married to your Mama."
"I know, but there's no one left to marry me!"
"Ok, I'll marry you."
"Yaaay! If other boys ask to marry me I'll always say no because I'm already married to you, Daddy."
"That's what I like to hear... always tell the boys no."

Fast forward to this morning when she was playing dress-up... she came in the office and announced that she was marrying Daddy in one hour. Good thing she doesn't have a grasp on time yet. Drew called and told her that he could marry her when he got home from work.

As soon as he got home, he changed clothes and left to go fishing with a buddy and we were headed out the door to Livy's dance class, but you better believe she didn't forget about it! She called him as soon as dance was over and reminded him about his promise.

So tonight when he got home from fishing, she got dressed and picked out his wedding attire... it had to match hers, of course. She also informed him that he needed to put stuff in his pockets to make them look bigger. She handed him a small squishy football and a dog toy and he gladly did as he was told. Then we made the long trek to the living room and had a beautiful wedding. Ha!

I took a few pictures and Drew said,

"Ok, Liv. Are we married now? Is that it?"
"No, silly!"
"Well, what else do we have to do?"
"We have to dance!"

So they danced and spun and dipped and danced some more.

"We danced, so are we married now? Is it over yet?"
"No, Daddy. This is a deer shootin' wedding."
"Oh, I like that. We have to shoot a deer?"
"Yea, you hold these flowers and pretend it's the shooter and shoot that deer up on the wall."

They each took part in the traditional holy-matrimony deer shootin' ceremony.

"We shot the deer, so are we married now?"
"Not yet. We have to make a heart like this..."

"Ok, now are we married?"
"Yea, we're all married. Now you get to play dollhouse with me. That's what people do after they're married. They play together."

 Of course you can't have a wedding without witnesses.

 



...or a dog.

The beautiful bride finally got to marry her Daddy... and they lived happily ever after.

Just a Phase

For some odd reason, Olivia has had her mind fixed on death lately and that's all she wants to talk about. It's exhausting, really. She asks question after question, she wants to know every detail, and a vague answer like "you don't have to worry about that, baby" just doesn't suffice. She wants to KNOW.

Normally the conversations begin with her in tears because she's worried about what will happen to Charlotte when we all die. Or she's worried that she will never see Ireland again. I always tell her that Jesus will take good care of us so she doesn't need to be upset about it... to which she replies...

"I'm trying not to worry about it but my eyes just can't hold the tears in!"

One night while we were laying in bed watching TV, she hugged and kissed me and said,
"I love you. When you die, will you die right beside me so I'll be OK?"

Doesn't that just rip you to pieces??? I can't handle it!

Then she'll ask...

"When you die, do you just stay dead?"
"No, baby. If you believe in Jesus you'll go to heaven when you die. And you'll live with Jesus forever."
"But didn't Jesus die on the cross?"
"Yes. But remember what happened on the third day? He rose again, so He's alive and He lives in heaven."
"Where will we die?"
"I don't know, baby. Only God knows that."
"Well, I believe in Jesus so I want to go to heaven so I can see Ireland again."

This is such a delicate subject. I know she's only 4 but she's also extremely smart. I try to make my answers age appropriate, but at the same time I don't want to withhold information that might confuse her later on down the road. It's never too early to plant the seed, after all it takes time to grow.

"Well, one day when you're a little older and you understand it a little better, you'll ask Jesus into your heart and you'll believe in Him as your Savior. Then you'll be baptized... do you remember seeing those people in front of the church when Bro. Micah dunked them under the water?"
"Oh yea!"
"That's called being baptized."
"Oh. I think I need to pray about that."
"That's a very good idea, sweetie. I pray about that for you too!"

I know this is just a phase and soon enough she'll move on to another subject to harp on, but this has been a daily reminder for me how important our role as Mama and Daddy are. We have two precious little lives in our care, and our job is to teach them about the glory of God. In comparison, nothing else really matters. Not what they wear, where they'll go to school, how many friends they have, nothing. I need to make sure I'm teaching them the important things.

Until they're old enough to study God's Word on their own, they're learning by example. And the example they spend the majority of their time with is me. Am I modeling who God wants me to be? Would it be OK if they grew up to be just like me? Is my light shining its brightest for Jesus?

I need to share Jesus. And that begins with me.

The Blessings

Lately it seems like the highlight of our day as parents is the mealtime prayer. I look forward to it every day. At first I almost dreaded it because it was nearly impossible not to laugh and the last thing I want to do is discourage her to pray, but it is so hilarious. Drew and I usually keep one eye open so we can smile at each other during the funny parts.

Since she learned to talk her prayer was simple and to the point...
Dear God, thank you, Amen.

And that's all she said until just a couple months ago. It's like a light bulb went off and she finally realized she could talk, really talk to God. And boy, does she! It's hilarious! Usually her longest prayers are when we're out to eat at a restaurant. When it's noisy and we can't hear what she's saying. But she goes on and on and on. And we sit there with our heads bowed, holding hands, biting our lips, trying not to laugh, all while she goes on and on and on.

One night at home this was the prayer... she had a little help from Charlotte, too.

Dear God, thank you for our food...
     Aaaaaoooooooaaaa...
thank you for our forks...
     Aaaaaoooooooaaaa...
and our cups...
     Aaaaaoooooooaaaa...
and please help Mama figure out what to cook with...
     Aaaaaoooooooaaaa...
and please help people build...
     Aaaaaoooooooaaaa...
and please help Daddy figure out what roads to drive on...
     Aaaaaoooooooaaaa...
and thank you for Jesus...
     Aaaaaoooooooaaaa...
In Jesus' name, Amen.

And this was tonight's prayer.

Dear God, thank you for our food. And thank you for our drinks. Thank you for Charlotte and Mama and Daddy. And please help... no, PROMISE that you'll keep people safe in the storms, I mean the really bad storms. And help people not to eat when their Mamas say it's not time to eat yet. Help 'em be still and just don't eat if their Mamas say don't eat. In Jesus name, Amen.

While we were at the beach, we had gone out for ice cream after supper one night and Ireland asked if we had to say the blessing. Livy said,

"No. We only say the blessin' when supper is hot."

She's quite the little blessing guru.

Summer Pics

I've been a terrible blogger lately. Our computer was in the shop for over a month and now my phone is on its last leg it seems so it has been a little difficult to post. But enough about that boring stuff.

 

A few weeks ago, we had some really strange but wonderful cooler weather so we went outside and snapped some shots of the girls. I'm no photographer but I managed to get a couple good ones.

 

I had plenty of help.