A psychic God

Mark and I are "homeschooling" Hope and Hannah for religion classes, using the Faith and Life series and the Baltimore Catechism.

Tonight, I was teaching Hannah.

Mom: God loves you.

Hannah: I was HOPING the book would say that!

Mom: Because He loves you, He watches over you day and night.

Hannah: And He reads minds, too!

Using his mind

Noah: What are we having for supper?

Mom: Food.

Noah: What kind of food?

Mom: The edible kind.

Noah: No, I mean WHAT are we having?

Mom: I was thinking maybe pancakes, or spaghetti.

Noah: NO! I don't want that!

Mom: Maybe you want to go to bed without supper.

Noah: I think my mind is changing.

It's so HARD to get the kids up for school some mornings. Hope usually bounds right out of bed with no prodding, and although still sleepy, gets dressed and is generally compliant.

Hannah is notoriously hard to get moving in the morning.

This morning, it was just the opposite. I whispered to Hope that it was time to get ready for school, and she said, "Awwwww, why couldn't you just WAIT until my dream is finished?" and covered up her head again.

I woke Hannah and got their clothes ready, and tried to wake Hope again.

"Just give me time to finish this dream," she said, covering up her head again.

Five minutes later, she popped out of bed and said, "SEE? I just needed to finish it. I'm done now."

Must have been a good one.

At our bank's drive-up window, they always give the kids either balloons or stickers. Today, the kids all got Scooby Doo stickers.

"Man, Scooby Doo is a CLASSIC!" exclaimed Hannah.

We are so blessed that our children all seem to love each other. Hope's teacher told me often last year how much Hope talked about her sister Hannah, and how good of friends they are. They play together at recess every day!

Some recent exchanges with the girls that illustrate their feelings for one another...

Me, discussing plans for a trip over a recent weekend: "Hannah will go with Dad, and Hope will stay home with me."

Hannah, frantically grabbing and hugging Hope: "But I'm a WRECK without Hope!"

****************
On Friday, discussing when Hannah would return from her class field trip to Hutchinson...

ME: "Hannah may not get home until after bedtime."

HOPE: "NOOOOOOOO!! I miss her so much I need to squeeze her!"

The third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States... I'm avoiding TV today, because I don't think I can handle it, emotionally. Being pregnant makes me unable to handle a lot of things.

A thread on the NFP board has people recounting "where I was when..." I certainly will never forget. I had stopped at Mark's workplace on my way to work to get a morning Pepsi. I was filling my cup when Mark walked up and told me that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. My first thought was, "So?" It just didn't register. I put the lid on my pop and walked with him to the counter to pay.

Then we both glanced over at the TV in the snack area, and just then, a second plane had hit the WTC. We both sat up and paid attention, then.

I sat down in a booth with Mark and we watched the news coverage, and were watching when the towers fell, when the plane hit the Pentagon, when another plane was reported missing, when that plane crashed... it was horrible, and numbing, and terrifying. I never made it to work that day. Dozens of people were standing around watching the TV with us. I'm so glad I was sitting next to Mark as it all happened.

That day changed the world for me. I didn't feel safe for a looooooooong time afterward, and in many ways, still don't. I'm terrified of flying. I'm scared of being in major cities now. I'm more patriotic.

My kids are still pretty much oblivious to what happened. They were and are so young. They just knew Mommy was crying a lot, and Daddy was upset. They don't really remember. Thank God.

The night of Sept. 11, 2001, I had to attend a sorority meeting. That was the night we did the "candle ceremony" to announce my pregnancy with Elizabeth. It seemed so strange to be celebrating a pregnancy in the middle of all the tragedy.

I remember that weekend after Sept. 11, too; Mark and I had to leave our children and give an Engaged Encounter weekend. We did NOT want to go, and we did NOT want to leave our children. But duty called, and we went. Ironically, we have been called to do an EE next weekend. And once again, we are expecting a baby. Life does move on.

ME: Hannah, please take off your clothes and go take a shower. It's almost bedtime.

HANNAH: OK, but it won't be pretty!

An interesting sight I witnessed last night... a butt-naked Elizabeth on her gallant steed (a stick horse), galloping through our living room and out the door, clear across the yard before I could rope her in.

We now call her Lady Godiva.

Hope: Mom, why does Ronald McDonald have big shoes?

Me: Because he's a clown.

Hope: But he's not funny.

My 7th and 8th grade Life Science students have been complaining about their insect collection assignment. "We can't FIND any bugs!" "I don't want to TOUCH bugs!" "What if I can only find one bug?"

I told them that the 1st and 2nd graders seem to find plenty of bugs at recess, and maybe they should ask the little kids for help. I mentioned that Hannah brings home a couple of bugs a day to feed our turtle, Neville.

"Wait a minute... are you Hannah's mom?" asked Cody, a 7th grader.

"Yes, I am. Why?" I replied.

"Hannah POKES me," he said. "She just walks up and pokes me all the time."

I laughed, but did ask Hannah about this after school.

"Hannah, have you been poking a 7th grade boy named Cody?" I asked her.

She looked at me with wide, innocent eyes, and said, "But Mom, I don't poke him very hard."