The Margins

What can a parent do then?

Get “radical,” Dean says.

She says parents who perform one act of radical faith in front of their children convey more than a multitude of sermons and mission trips. A parent’s radical act of faith could involve something as simple as spending a summer in Bolivia working on an agricultural renewal project or turning down a more lucrative job offer to stay at a struggling church, Dean says.

But it’s not enough to be radical — parents must explain “this is how Christians live,” she says.”If you don’t say you’re doing it because of your faith, kids are going to say my parents are really nice people,” Dean says. “It doesn’t register that faith is supposed to make you live differently unless parents help their kids connect the dots.”

From Kenda Creasy’s new book, Almost Christian, via CNN

We just returned from ten days at our family’s lake cabin near Spokane, Washington. We lived in our swimsuits while we were there, and as always when I am in the sun a number of freckles made their jolly appearance all over me. One night as I changed Elijah out of his swimsuit and into clothes before dinner, he pressed one of my freckles and told me: “Mommy, I take my freckles off.”

“Really?” I asked. “When do you take them off, Elijah?”

“At night.”

“Where do you put them?”

“On the floor.”

Seems as good a place to keep them as any!

I was tucking Elijah in last night and this happens to be the time of day when we have some of our sweetest moments of conversation. Perhaps it is the simple absence of larger, louder siblings or it is an effective sleep-avoidance ploy: I don’t really care. It is precious and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

Last night during our cuddle, Elijah asked me some ridiculous question that I barely understood and I gave that age-old cop-out: “You’ll have ask God when you get to heaven.”

“Mommy, can I ask Jesus?”

“Yes, of course, Elijah. You can ask Jesus.”

“And who is the other one?”

“The Holy Spirit, Elijah.”

After a pause, Elijah continued: “Could Jesus be the mommy?”

“Sure, Elijah,” I said.

“And who would be the friends?”

“Maybe the angels could be the friends, Elijah.”

“Yeah, the blue ones.”

We just got back from a three-day camping trip with a number of families from our church. This is an annual event for our congregation, and while my family did not attend when I was growing up here, I completely understand why this event is such a hit! Most people spent the better part of last week up at the campground at Camp Casey together; we opted for the three-day version. In Doug’s words: “Let’s want to go back next year.”

A number of people hooked us up with all of the gear we needed, and we enjoyed three days of dirt-covered, s’more-slimed bliss together. Favorite memories from the trip include:

Elijah’s fearless swimming, and his mastering how to swim the entire width of the pool unassisted.

Elijah closing the shallow pool due to swallowing too much water during said fearless swimming and throwing up a bunch of watermelon.

Triple-decker s’mores, roasted Twinkies, and Elijah’s indignant response: “It’s not a SNACK, mommy, it’s a S’MORE!”

Mercy and Aaron’s first night sleeping in a tent. “It’s not even as dark as our bedroom!”

Mercy washing my grandparent’s old orange patio dishes in green basins just like I remembered doing as a little girl.

Elijah and I doing a three-legged gunny-sack race.

Mercy running wild with her “pack” of other kids, making forts, going on hikes, and building streams.

Elijah sneaking candy bars and eating them under the picnic table.

Daddy’s “Plercy” story in the tent (there are Plaaron, Pelijah, Plommy and Pladdy and Plingrid stories as well).

Elijah’s speculations about what wildlife we might encounter.

Aero Press coffee every morning!

The Kyllos’s sharing their crepe breakfast with us our first morning there.

Fog, sun, dew, and rain!

Afternoon swimming with fighter-jets overhead, much to Aaron’s (and Daddy’s) delight!

The mama and baby deer that visited often.

Singing by the campfire with people I love, and watching my kids learn the words to songs from my childhood.

Watching older kids take care of younger kids.

Hearing, “It gets better every year,” from knowing moms after Elijah threw a giant temper tantrum during Sunday morning worship.

Doug’s pancakes.

Already looking forward to going back!