This would be why more than one of my children thought chicken came from cows…
Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A is a tradition here at the circus.
We start them young with our indoctrination!
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From the category archives:
holidays
I’ll be honest. When I think Memorial Day celebration, I typically think cook outs and swimming pools. This year being 9 mths preggo, we didn’t really make any big plans for Memorial Day weekend. Scott grilled for us several times and even got out this smoker and cooked a chicken for Monday’s dinner. We went to the park, did a few things around the house and basically took it easy all weekend. It was perfect.
So, my plans for Monday included sleeping in, eating sticky buns, perhaps a trip to Target in there somewhere and smoked chicken for dinner.
Then, I talked with my 6 yr old son.
Me: Guess what? Daddy doesn’t have to go to work on Monday.
Son: Why?
Me: Because it is Memorial Day
Son: What’s Memorial Day?
Me: It is a day we remember the soldiers who gave their lives fighting for our country’s freedom
Son: So, what are we going to do for Memorial Day? Are we going to go down to the War Memorial?
Me: completely caught off guard…. ummmm…. I guess I didn’t really make plans for Monday
Son: But what are we going to do to remember the soldiers? Shouldn’t we go to the memorial?
Scott and I: Sure, we can do that
Son: And I think we should dress like soldiers, since it is their day, and we should bring our MRE and eat it b/c that is what soldiers eat
Scott and I: ok… sure…. sounds like a plan
So, we did just that.
This weekend my family enjoyed a peaceful weekend at home. We went to nearby parks and enjoyed the swings, kicked the soccer ball in the field and played catch. Many families might of done the same thing this weekend, only without their entire family with them to enjoy the event. Many families sacrificed their husbands, wives, sons, or daughters so that my family and yours could enjoy such freedom. As we played at the park, I never feared for our safety. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder. This is thanks to the soldiers that fought for our safety. On Sunday we went to church. The church of our choosing to worship in the manner we chose. We were able to do this thanks to the freedoms our soldiers fought so bravely to defend.
I am so thankful for the country I live in and the freedoms we enjoy. And I am so thankful my son reminded us to take the time to pause and think of the soldiers who gave those gifts to us. It was a great way to celebrate Memorial Day.
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In honor of Memorial Day, I thought I’d repost this post from Jan of 09 in which my son first learned of the ultimate sacrifice many of our soldiers make for our country. As we were discussing what Memorial Day was this week, my son asked what we were going to do to celebrate. “So, are we going to the memorial in Annapolis then?” I realized that sadly, Memorial Day typically comes and goes without much thought at all to why we have the day off. It seems to mark the beginning of summer and swim season and white shoes, but all to often we forget to pause and reflect on the reason for the holiday. May you take time today to give thanks for the soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf and for those who are fighting today willing to pay that sacrifice should it be required.
A Deeper Understanding
JANUARY 24, 2009[edit]
Last week in church the pastor gave an illustration in which he mentioned the number of American lives lost during various wars in our history. My son looked over at me and asked why he was talking about American soldiers getting killed.
This led to a discussion later in the week in which it was brought to my attention that my son was under the impression that good guys don’t die in war. It was a sobering discussion I had with my four year old that afternoon that went something like this…
Son: Mom, why did the good guys die? I thought they killed the bad guys.
Me: Well, sometimes they do, but sometimes the bad guys kill them first. The bad guys are trying to get them just like they are trying to get the bad guys.
Son: But Mom, they have camouflage so the bad guys can’t see them
Me: True, and that helps a lot, but sometimes the good guys still get hurt. That’s why they are heroes…not just because they hurt the bad guys, but because by doing so they are risking their own lives. That is part of war…good guys and bad guys die.
Son: But Uncle Jim didn’t die.
Me: Yes, and we are so thankful for that, but that is why we were praying for Uncle Jim when he was at war, because we wanted God to protect him.
Son: But Uncle Jim isn’t at war right now…he’s training right now to be a captain.
Much later that night when we were saying our bedtime prayers my son prayed, “please keep Uncle Jim safe.”
I found this whole incident to be quite sobering. We have stressed over and over through the years that soldiers, and policemen, and firemen are true heroes and deserve honor and our gratitude. I guess though we never stressed why they are heroes. And in the sweet innocence of childhood, my son assumed that only bad guys get hurt. Yet we live in a world where that is not the case.
And as this truth sunk in to my little boy, his response was to pray for the Lord to protect his dear Uncle Jim who serves as a soldier in our U.S. Army.
This served as a good reminder to me to continue to life up our soldiers in prayer. While Uncle Jim is home in Texas right now, we are praying for our cousin Joel who is at war fighting for our freedom. We are proud to have both soldiers as part of our family, modeling heroism for our children.
Since the original posting of this blog post, Uncle Jim has since gone back for a second tour of duty in Iraq and cousin Joel has safely returned from Afghanistan.
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This weekend was full of family fun and excitement! Saturday morning the kids went to the neighborhood egg hunt with both sets of grandparents, while Scott and I went to a wedding reception.
The kids had a blast finding eggs and getting their faces painted. 
(some enjoyed the face paint more than others)
That evening (after my son and I got back from a trip to the the after hours clinic where he was diagnosed with pneumonia), we gathered the grands again to dye Easter eggs with us!
Since last year we were in Texas for Easter, this was the first time my youngest got to participate in egg dying. Can you tell she loved it? 
Don’t you love the intensity in his face? Check out that tongue!
And my oldest daughter really got into it this year as well. She was quite pleased with her art work.
Then on Sunday, we had everyone together again for an Easter lunch after worshipping together at church.
After lunch, everyone went home and the circus family all took naps. Naptime was followed by an egg hunt at home with Mom and Dad and time spent playing together in the back yard and enjoying the beautiful weather.
This year I bought a different package of eggs for each kid… my son had baseball eggs, my oldest daughter soccer ball eggs, and my youngest had sparkly eggs. Each kid was only allowed to gather their own eggs. This worked wonderfully because I was able to hide my sons eggs in more challenging locations and my youngest in plain sight. I will def repeat this idea next year. The kids had so much fun sorting and looking at their loot. And to their credit, they didn’t eat any of it until after dinner when they were allowed 2 eggs each. 
Visit here or here for more Wednesday picture fun!
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Since before each of my children were born, my hearts deepest desire has been for them to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. My son has demonstrated to us numerous times through various conversations that he recognizes he is a sinner and Christ died on the cross to forgive his sins.
My girls have not come to that point yet, but this Easter season we got one step closer. We did the Resurrection Eggs with the kids this year and the way we did it was to start 12 days prior to Easter and open one egg each day leading up to Easter Sunday, opening the 12th egg, Easter night. We would spend time review the previously discussed eggs each night, with the hopes of truly solidifying the Easter story in their hearts and minds and helping them to grasp the significance of the events leading up to our Lord’s death and resurrection.
One night we were discussing the cross and my husband asked my oldest daughter some questions.
“Who died on the cross?”
“Jesus”
“Why did he die on the cross?”
“Because he loved us.”
“What did he die for?”
“Our sins”
“Whose sins?”
“All of our sins”
“Did he die for your sins?”
“He died for EVERYBODY’S sins”
It took several rounds of discussing and questioning to get her to not just answer everybody’s sins, but to get her to say that he died for HER SINS. And this was a crucial first step towards her coming to a saving faith of her own.
This is a huge point, that in my opinion is well worth spending time on. It can be easy to say, “Yes, Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins.” My girls can even tell you that sins are the bad things we do and that Jesus didn’t do anything bad. But, until my child recognizes that she herself is a sinner, that Jesus died on the cross to take the consequences of her sins, until she makes it personal, she won’t recognize her need for a personal Savior.
My prayer for my kids isn’t simply that they grow up with a sound head knowledge of Christian doctrine. My prayer is that my children will have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That they will call Him Lord. This relationship is possible only because Christ, who had no sin, took the consequence of our sin upon Himself when he died on the cross. With the consequence paid, the perfectly just creator God can be united with me and my imperfect daughters. Jesus is the mediator between us and God, but only if we personally acknowledge our need for a mediator.
Before my girls can have that personal relationship with our Lord, they need to first recognize that they personally are a sinner. That their personal sins were enough to require Jesus to die on the cross. He did it for them. Once they recognize that point, then they can grasp what is means to call Christ their personal savior. Then, once Christ is their Lord, they can go on to live the life of purpose God intends for them.
I eagerly await that day. We’re one step closer.
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