Pumpkin Patch

 One of the most wonderful things about our church is the never-ending attempts to involve the children in every way possible.  I think it is such an incredible way to show children that church is more than just a Sunday morning thing, and that they too have an important role in the life of the church.

Each fall our church hosts a pumpkin patch, and each year the children are invited to come and help unload the pumpkins.  So, this year we went to unload pumpkins.

Collin's best buddy, Joseph, and Joseph's brother even came to help.  They must have worked hard because they were hot and tired when it was time to go home.  Now, they just want to know when we're going back to BUY a pumpkin.

Faith in Action

Each year our church chooses one Sunday on which none of us go to church.  Instead, we go out into our community and try to BE the church.  We find projects with which we can make a difference for someone or some group in our community.  It is usually a great day of working together and hoping others "get it."
Being quite pregnant and having a 3-year-old my work options were quite limited this year.  So, I stayed back with a handful of others, and the children, to make halloween decorations to send overseas.  Now, it doesn't seem like much, I know.  Really, they are fighting a war, do the soldiers really care about decorating for halloween??  Probably not.  But, we did need something we could do with the children in an attempt to make the day "real" and understandable to them.  So, full speed ahead.  We made spiders, paper candy corn streamers, bats and cats, and even some turkey placemats, just for good measure.  The children had a wonderful time and were well entertained while many of their parents were working projects around town.
On our way home, Collin noted that we did not sing any songs at church, nor did we go to Sunday School and Pastor Rick didn't speak.  So, I began to explain, as best I could in 3-year-old lingo, what the purpose of church was for that day.  I asked Collin if he knew why we go to church in the first place, he responded it's because of Jesus.  I thought that was good enough.  So, I told him that Jesus wants us to do things to help other people, it's part of believing in him and doing what he asks.  I told him that Jesus spent his whole life doing things for other people.  At this point I just asked him what we had done for other people that day.  His response, "We made decorations for the guys with daddy so it's like our house, and that will make them happy."  Yes, my child it will. 
Even a 3-year-old gets it.  He knows he will not get anything in return.  He knows he will not even know if the "guys" actually received them or not and he is perfectly content having done something nice for someone else.  There truly is wisdom in youth.

    Since we were helping with the crafts there are no pictures of the children actually working.  However, we were able to get this shot of them in front of the fire truck.  As one of our projects the church provided lunch for first responders in our area.  The firefighters were kind of enough to let the children explore the truck before they came in for lunch.  Thanks guys!!

The Body of Christ

There are no cute pictures for this post or funny stories about the comings and goings of my 3-year-old.  No, this post is a reflection, probably 30 years in the making, on the Body of Christ.
Growing up in the church I always heard about the Body of Christ.  Even at a young age I knew people weren't speaking of the physical body of Jesus, I knew it was something bigger, deeper than that.  As I got older I began to understand that being a part of the Body of Christ carried with it a great repsonsibility to be His physical presence in the world.  What I'm not sure I realized, maybe until recently, is that being His physical presence is so much more than helping in a soup kitchen, volunteering at church, or lifting a helping hand for a neighbor.  While those things are important and a large part of what the Body of Christ is to do, it's not the full extent of it.
Many have heard the "Footprints" poem speaking of how God picks us up and carries us through the hard times.  Recently I have begun to wonder if God doesn't use the Body of Christ to do some of that carrying, to be that physical presence in tragic situations, life altering situations.  I'm not talking about cooking a meal for someone who has lost a family member, I'm talking about truly walking with them through the tragedy.  Jumping into the muck of life and death with another person so that he or she does not have to bear that burden alone.  This is surely not something you can do for just anyone, but I feel like it's something we run from even when it involves our closest friends and family.  It's something that takes an enormous amount of energy, emotion and suffering on our part.  It is allowing our heart to bear a burden with another and sometimes break for another.  It is being in the middle of the sadness and devestation, listening to a cry that can only come from the depths of someone's soul.  It is bearing the burden of a lost child with a devestated parent, the burden of a lost spouse with the one left trying to figure out how to live as a widow(er).  It is bearing the burden of illness, addiction, financial ruin, and the list goes on, in such a real way that it truly alleviates some of the burden felt by the person experiencing the pain.  It is sitting in the house, the hospital, the rehab center, the church regardless of how uncomfortable or emotional it makes us.  It is knowing when to say nothing, because there is nothing you can say.  It is knowing that you may have to stay all night.  It is holding someone who is fighting mad or dropped to their knees in devastation.  It is remembering that the pain doesn't leave in a week or a month or a year, and being there when it rears its head.  It is being Jesus with skin.  Someone to touch, to hold, to listen, to SHOW the depth and breadth of the love of God, as best as we can.  This is the Body of Christ, this is what we are called to do. 

It's a cylinder

As I noted in the previous post, Collin got M&Ms today.  We started with a regular bag from the check-out line.  Then Collin spotted the aisles of halloween candy and we just had to go look there before a final decision could be made.  And that's when he saw it, a cylinder of M&Ms.

And that's what HE called it.  A cylinder, really??  So, I quickly responded by asking him how on earth he knew that.  He said, it was a small cylinder, but still a cylinder.  I repeated my question.  Collin informs me that Martian Mickey uses a cylinder to help the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang get back to earth.  Who knew????  Dare I say pre-school television just might be educational.

What a difference a week makes...

...or maybe it was the bribe of M&Ms. 
If you are keeping up you know that Collin's first soccer game was quite traumatic.  So, needless to say, we spent all week talking about soccer, and how to play it.  When he had friends over a couple of days ago I even found myself telling him that we do not take things from other people, unless we are playing soccer.  Ha!! 
We even watched a professional soccer game on television so that I could point out to him how the "big boys" were playing the game.  He sat and watched, and even noted that none of them were crying.  His coach spent some time in practice having the kids steal the ball from each other and then she stole the ball from them.  Just to make sure the concept was sinking in I told him he could have M&Ms if he could make it through the whole game with no tears.
Well, it was more than just no tears, he played almost the entire game, did the kick-off, threw the ball in and SCORED 2 GOALS!!!  It was great!  He was having a blast!  He even told me at half-time that he was playing so much his legs were hurting.  That boy deserved a trophy for his improvement from last week, but he had his heart set on the M&Ms.  So, after his snack (if you've ever been around toddler sports you know how important the after game snack is), we went to Target for some M&Ms AND a chocolate bar.  Even though only one was promised they were both well earned.
WAY TO GO COLLIN!!!  Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!

You'll have to excuse the mom's commentary in the video :)

 

Drama, Trama

The only way to describe this picture is the calm before the storm, or better yet, the smiles before the tears. 
Collin's first soccer game was Saturday and it was nothing if it wasn't dramatic.  I knew the actual game would be difficult regardless of how well he did in practice.  We had the advantage of having watched Collin's best buddy, Joseph, during his first soccer season this past spring.  Practices always went off without a hitch and the games, well, the games were full of tears and stomps and hurt feelings.  It all goes back to one of my previous posts; competitive sports go against everything a child is taught from the moment he begins to interact with others.
Needless to say Collin was super excited about this game.  He loved his jersey and thought it was even cooler that Joseph had one exactly the same.  The weather was perfect for a fall game and his grandparents and great-grandmother had come up for the weekend just to watch him play.  He lined up with 3 of teammates, the whistle blew and the ball was taken (by the other team).  This was ok at first, Collin was fine with them having a turn first, but when he got the ball and it was kicked away from him, it was not ok anymore.  The tears rolled and he didn't even want to try to get it back.   So, off to the sidelines for a little pep talk, back in the game and the cycle starts again.  Thus went his 45 minute game.
In his defense, he was not the only child crying on the field.  As a matter of fact I think there were more children who were crying than not crying.  I think it's just going to take some time for him to understand all of the double standards and nuances of "polite society."  It's ok to steal the ball on the field, but not on the playground.  It's ok to run into someone on the field, but not in your classroom.  You should be aggressive on the field, but greatly temper that aggression everywhere else.  And the list goes on, and on.
So, when the Manchester United game came on this afternoon, after the football game, I decided we should watch.  Collin thought it was really cool that they were playing his sport on TV.  I pointed out everytime the ball was "stolen" from someone.  I noted that everyone was trying to get the ball to the goal.  I showed him how no one used his hands.  After a few minutes of taking all of this in he says, "and none of them are crying."  Oh, break my heart.  But I acknowledged that none of them were crying, that they just ran super fast to get the ball back. 
In the end, my little guy did pretty well while he was in there, and I think he will really enjoy it once he gets the hang of it.  Until then every moment is a teaching moment.  Right now he is super excited about next week's game, as long as that "red team" isn't there.    

Playdates

I am not sure when I first heard the term playdate.  I am quite certain I did not have a child and that it was in reference to my friends (who also did not have children) getting their dogs together.  I didn't have a dog at the time either, so I didn't pay it much attention.  As I entered the stage of my life when more and more of my friends had children I began to hear this term used in reference to getting children together.  While it all made sense, the significance of it was lost on me, until I became a stay-at-home mom (please note I didn't just say mom).

The older Collin gets the more difficult it is to keep him engaged, learning and tired at the end of the day.  Add to that a pregnant mommy who needs more nap time than he does and somedays are quite interesting.  So, in an effort to keep his schedule full we are trying to have at least one playdate a week.  This is preferably on a non-school day, so as to help fill the down-time.  Mind you, I don't think it is my responsibility to entertain my child every moment of his life, or to even provide entertainment opportunities for every moment of his life.  However, I do think it is my responsibility to provide him with opportunities to learn, socialize and expend some energy, on a regular basis. 

We have had playdates before, just not that often.  Before I stayed home Collin was in a daycare during the day and had more than enough playtime with others, especially for a little guy.  He was only 18 months old when I decided to leave work, and at that point was pretty easy to "engage" and keep busy.  Now, it's a whole new story.  I am looking for every opportunity I can find to have him learn, play, run, socialize and be outdoors.

The most interesting thing I have learned about playdates is that they are as much for the mommies as they are for the children.  When you find yourself as your child's only companion, and equally as bad that he/she may be your only (day-time) companion you begin to look for opportunities to be around other adults during the day.  The beauty of a playdate is that it is actually a "playdate" for everyone.  I can have an adult conversation, Collin can play with someone other than me or by himself.  I can enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend and without a child wanting to sit with (on, near....) me.  Collin can run and play and yell and chatter with someone who loves to do those same things just as much as he does.  So, as a stay-at-home mom, who has desperately done everything in my power not to be a stereotypical stay-at-home mom I have joined the thousands (probably way more than that) of moms who absolutely love playdates.