For the Journey


Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day. ~A.A. Milne

"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." ~Psalm 65:11
It's been awhile since the latest installment of Ellie-isms.  And not because there's a shortage either.  There's just so much of this girl to go around!
Ellie is always hungry.  Except when she's not hungry.  Which is usually right after I serve her breakfast, lunch or supper.  When she complains that she's hungry, it's usually the kind of hunger that can only be satisfied by chips, goldfish, popsicles, candy, Oreos or any other junky, salty food you can name.  And then her "stomach hurts."  Only it really doesn't.  That just means she doesn't want what's been provided for her to eat, at which time I usually invite her to just leave the table.  Saturday afternoon she'd been playing outside.  She came inside and asked for a snack, but I told her she couldn't have one because it was almost supper time (not to mention the fact that she'd already had more than one "snack").  She didn't like my answer because she was SO HUNGRY, but next thing I know, she plops down on the sofa, and the conversation goes like this:

Ellie:  My stomach hurts.

Me:  No, it doesn't.  You're just saying that.

Ellie:  No, it really does.

Me:  No, it doesn't.  You just told me you were hungry and asked for a snack.  You're upset because I told you no.

Ellie:  I think I have a virus.

Me:  YOU DO NOT HAVE A VIRUS.

Ellie:  Yes, I really think I do.

I didn't bother responding.  And then . . .

Ellie:  Mom, what is a virus anyway?


I played the piano for a wedding last weekend so there have been lots of conversations about weddings recently.  This one was yesterday afternoon on the way home from the dentist.

Mason:  Mom, where did Caleb and Rebecca go on their honeymoon?

Me:  A cruise.

Hannah Kate:  Where did you and Dad go on your honeymoon?

Me:  Jamaica.

Mason:  I wonder where I'll go on my honeymoon if I get married?

Hannah Kate:  Hawaii!

Ellie:  GEORGIA!


Tonight our family devotion was in the book of Psalm, and we talked about why the kind of music we listen to is important and the influence it has on us.  So then I explained to the kids that it's not just about the music we listen to that matters but that there are lot of other things we listen to that we need to be careful and make good decisions about.  I asked them to name some, and it didn't take long for Mason and Hannah Kate especially to make a list of the prime suspects . . . television, video games, youtube videos.  And then the conversation went like this:

Hannah Kate:  Walmart.

Me:  Yeah, that's a good point.  Sometimes we find ourselves in places where we hear things that we can't help but hear and have no control over.  So we just want to be really careful that we make good decisions about the kinds of conversations we get involved in and the things we say.  And sometimes we just might need to try to walk away from those conversations.

Mason:  The ball field.

Me:  Yep, that's another good one.

Ellie:  And don't covet your neighbor's wife!

Seth:  What?!?  Where did you hear that from?  

Ellie:  You know, don't want your neighbor's wife.  It says that in John 36.

Me:  Baby, you are doing such a good job!  It does say that in the Bible in the 10 Commandments in the book of Exodus.

Side note:  Yes, I know John does not have 36 chapters.  But we've been studying the book of John this month in Sunday school, and she heard the 10 Commandments passage read during church on Sunday.  So there you go!