Communion with Elizabeth

We enjoyed a Good Friday service at our church that was family friendly.  The kids don't often sit with us in church as they are in bible classes so it was a rare experience for them.  Dad sang on the stage and we had Grandma and Grandpa in town visiting so it was very exciting for them.  There was a short message about the last supper and then all those that chose to participate took communion.  Elizabeth was very interested and wanted to know what Mom was eating and drinking and if she could have some.  This is very different for every family and not meant to offend or step on toes.  It is our personal choice to tell the kids that communion is something they can do when they are older, chose to follow Jesus and are baptized.  So Mom quietly told Elizabeth she would need to be older.  Elizabeth was fine and seemed to move on.  Two days later on Easter, Elizabeth asked Mom - "What was it again that you drank at church lasterday?  Was it blood?"  Mom was a little taken aback, but answered that it was grape juice, but it reminds us of Jesus's blood.  Elizabeth answered - "Yeah, from when he died on the cross."  Mom said yes, reassured her that it was grape juice and tried to move on.  A few minutes later Mom overheard Elizabeth playing....."Cookie monster, please take this cup.  It is my blood and will make you gooder."  Elizabeth say that she was caught and laughed.  Mom asked what she was playing and she replied that she was giving Cookie Monster her blood just like Jesus gave us His.  Well, we seem to get part of the concept, but at four probably won't comprehend much more.  She keeps us on our toes though!  The questions you never thought you would get as a parent.....

The Pains of Being a KU Fan

We may have mentioned it before, but Ben is a bit of a sports nut.  March Madness rocks our world.  Ben filled out a bracket, watched as many games as he could and always had a favorite team.  When the Jayhawks played it was even more intense.  KU's second matchup was against North Carolina.  We have explained a little to Ben about what it means to play our former coach in this matchup and the history these schools have at being basketball greats.  We watched the first half at home and KU was losing.  Ben was pretty upset, crying and unable to play with his friend that had joined us.  We went on to watch the second half with more friends at a place that had an area for the adults with giant TVs and a play area for the kids.  Ben went back and forth between the two.  He almost couldn't bear to watch in case we lost and also didn't want to miss out on playing.  When it was evident that KU would win and we were singing Rock Chalk, we called Ben in to join us and celebrate.  When the buzzer hit 0.0, Ben took off running.  He was sock footed from being on the play equipment and ran through a carpeted area to yell at his friends that KU won.  He made it past the carpet and to a wood floor.  That's when his luck changed.  He slipped and fell catching himself with his right hand.  His cheers changed to screaming in pain and we got him some ice for his hand and lots of TLC.  Nothing looked wrong and he could move his wrist in all directions.  We opted to try some Tylenol and a good night's sleep.  His wrist still hurt when we woke up on Monday and Ben begged to stay home.  It was also the first day back after spring break so we wondered if he just didn't want to go back to school.  We decided he was complaining enough that we would make a doctor's appt.  Ben got x-rayed and was diagnosed with a hairline fracture of one of his wrist bones.  Oops!  Guess it really was hurting.  Ben was given a brace to wear for two weeks and was to take children's Advil for pain in the meantime.  The brace was quite the exciting addition to our family.  It was to stay on at all times except during shower.  Ben became so dependent on it, that he started to despise showering.  We made it through and he actually gladly took it off for good after the two weeks was up.  We let him watch the KU game the following weekend when they lost to Michigan.  Luckily it was only tears that time and no wounds.  Everyone was worried after such a rambunctious win that a loss might cause even greater injury.  Luckily a little sleep cured the loss and we resumed cheering for other games and picking new favorites.  The best part is how Ben tells what he told the doctor.  He told her he was celebrating a basketball win.  She asked if it was for the Jayhawks.  His response to us - "She immediately knew what game it was.  There must have been thousands of injuries due to that game."  LOL - not everyone is that big of a Jayhawk fan, Ben!

Spring Break

This is our first year to experience any kind of spring break.  Ben was off school for a week and joined Elizabeth at her school for Kids Klub.  He got to take his lunch and his DS every day and thought that was pretty cool.  Turns out that he didn't even use his DS though as there were too many other interesting things to do according to him.  Yea!  He was originally upset that we weren't going to the beach "like everyone else was".  But he got over that and really enjoyed some fun times.  It got him thinking about summer break though.  He asked - "So is it just a week like spring break?"  Hmmm..... that is new to us as well.  Mom said it was more like 2-3 months and Ben freaked out.  We assured him that he would do Kids Klub, camps, swim lessons, field trips, etc and have a great time.  That seemed to help, but we realized he had never really known that other kids had summers off.  We are working on planning some extra fun and probably a small trip or two.  This kid's summer schedule is already jam packed and it is still a couple of months away.  Now we just have to hope that Sister doesn't notice the extra fun Ben is having.  She won't really get "summer break" until next year.