Deep Questions

Case has a pretty analyzing mind.  He ask questions and thinks about your answer for awhile.  Then he asks another question.  You can see the wheels turning in his head when you give him an answer.

Some questions are just funny to watch him process.  Like the other night when he asked what happens to the snow cone once he eats it.  Josh and I explained to him how it turns into pee.
He was amused, but quiet.  After about a minute, he asked what happens to the food you eat.  I wish I had asked him what he thought happened to it.  I'm pretty sure he wasn't surprised when we said it turns into poop.  He was amazed with the idea how your food and drink gives your body energy, and the waste turns into pee and poop.  Okay, I'm pretty sure he could care less about the energy part.  He was enthralled with the bathroom talk.  What four-year-old boy isn't?

Other questions are difficult to answer.  Not because we don't know the answers.  Those questions are easier in a way.  If I don't know the explanation, I'll tell him I don't know it, but we could look up the answer.  Right now the difficult ones are the ones that show that slowly his innocence is slipping away.  He's learning about death and sin.  It started with learning about Jesus dying on the cross.  The story is in our children's bible book, and they learned about it in his bible class.

Here's just a sampling:
"Why did Jesus die?"
"Does everybody die?"
"Does everybody go to Heaven after they die?  What about bad people?"
"What about kids?  Do they always go to Heaven?"
(I'm not kidding.  C thinks about the simple explanation we give him, thinks about it, and goes further with the questioning.)
Do kids - do I -  need to get baptized and have my sins washed away?

Sigh.  I try to stay calm and answer honestly.  Though I feel sad that he is realizing that the world isn't perfect, I'm glad he is asking us questions.  I think about that when I get scared when I hear some of his questions.  When he is 15, I hope he is still asking us questions.

On Sunday during communion, I realized how thankful I am for Jesus' sacrifice.  It reminded me of Josh's communion talk he gave right after Case was born.  I'm thankful, not just for me, but for my kids' sake, too.  They'll need that cleansing blood one day, and right now, they already need that Hope as they are realizing that the world isn't perfect.

Some More Birthday Pics

As usual, I didn't get pictures of everybody.  I enlisted Tana to take some for me and that helped : )

Bunny and Mamaw

Who's that good looking man?  My hubbie!

Liam with his bud Jaci.

Water balloon fun.  100 balloons gone in about 70 seconds.

Got to see my sweet niece Tana.

Mama and the birthday boy

Water's lookin' a little gross...you should've seen it by the end of the night.  Let's just say: 

The boys HAD to take a bath.

Pretty ladies

Liam was like an old man.  He would get chilled, get wrapped in his towel, and then watch the kids play for awhile.  Sometimes he even sat in his lawn chair watching.

Grandma and Grandpa

Me and Kota

Love this pic of Jaritt

Elmo Decorations

Thanks to Mom's mad crafty skills and Pinterest, Liam's 2 and half birthday party was decked out with Elmo stuff.

Elmo party banner

Kinda-looks-like-Elmo-vegetable-plate (I made these)

Looks-more-like-Elmo-fruit-plate

Brought to you by the letter L...

and by the number 2. 

Happy Birthday Liam banner

As Mamaw said, "They are really as delicious as they are cute!"

Baseball Night

We got a package baseball deal for the summer.  Last week was our second game.  Mom and Dad couldn't use their tickets so Jesse and Marie got to go with us.

The boys already know about cotton candy at the ball park!

Watch a little ball.

Waiting for a foul ball.

Got a little bored so he played Angry Birds awhile.

Got tired.

L Child telling Marie about his tattoos.

Time for fireworks.  Liked the pretty colors.  Not the noise so much.

Zoo with Mamaw and Immie

 C explaining the finer points of bamboo to Mamaw and L Child.

C leading the way with his map.

This little goat was a riot.  He loved people and kept wanting to be hand fed.

He even took a bit out of Mamaw's straw hat.

The boys got to feed the lorikeets.

Park Days

I promised the boys we would go to the park in the morning.  Then it rained during the night and during the morning.  There was a small break from the rain during naptime so we headed to the park.  On the rain, I took a wrong turn (for anybody who knows me, no surprise) and found another park near us.  It was a fun one!

There were monkey bars and slides...

...and a giant wooden train the boys could "drive" me around.

 Case isn't crying.  He's yelling, "All aboard!"  It's serious business being a conductor.

I love summer park days.  Even if we only have a couple of rain-free hours a day sometimes.  That's especially a treat here in Oklahoma!