The Bible (According to Emily)

A while back, I bought a tablet.   I found a great deal on a nice one (not an Ipad) at Best Buy during their Black Friday sale.  Andrew and I stood out in the cold (it started at the night of Thanksgiving) and patiently waited in line to get in....and then stood in line for about 4 more hours waiting to check out.  But at the end of a VERY long day, I had a tablet.

Fast forward about a year and the kids think the tablet belongs to them.  They have loaded it down with all sorts of unbelieveably silly apps and games and they had mostly taken it over, despite my stern warnings that they were to sit down while using it and treat it very gently or they wouldn't be able to use it.  What's that old saying...."Familiarity breeds contempt"?  Well, I think that's what started happening, or at least it led to carelessness.

One afternoon, about two weeks ago, Emily and Ethan were playing (I mean, fighting) upstairs rather loudly.  Unbeknownst to me, the tablet was also upstairs.  Somehow, the fighting worked its way into the bathroom, along with the tablet and the next thing I knew, one of the kids came downstairs and very quietly said something along the lines of  "We didn't mean to break it"  or possibly, "We'll give you our money to buy a new one".  In his or her hand was the tablet with part of the back popped off.  Apparently it had been knocked to the tile floor in the bathroom and "broken". 

I contained my frustration rather well.  I didn't yell (partly because I could pop the back on again and it appeared to still work), but I did calmly tell them that neither of them would be using it again for a long time, since they couldn't treat it nicely.  And I proceeded to put it away.  Out of sight, out of mind...

Until today.  While watching the Disney channel this morning, a commercial for some new app came on and Ethan asked if we could download the app to the tablet.  I reminded them that they were still not allowed to use it to which my dear 8.5 year old replied, with a completely straight face:

"Mom, love doesn't keep a record of wrong-doings."

Well.

While stifling a laugh, I replied something along the lines of, "Well that means that love doesn't hold grudges.  I'm  not still angry with you."  And she tried to say that I was holding a grudge because I wouldn't let them use the tablet.  To which I replied, "Well love isn't stupid either."

I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible somewhere too.

Nice try Emily....

The Bible (According to Ethan)

Ethan enjoys church.  Once he got over his fear of being left in a classroom with other kids instead of Mom or Dad (gasp!) he found his love of making crafts and playing with the kids.

We have about a half hour drive back home from church each week and we like to ask the kids what their lessons were about while we drive.  Often we get the standard "I don't know"  or "I can't remember", but sometimes we get some real information.  And from Ethan, we've come to expect some "interesting" versions of classic Bible stories.  Case in point, today's telling of  the parable of the prodigal son, as told to us by Ethan, age 3.5 years:

Us:  So what did you learn about in your class today?
Ethan:  We learned about when God's father gave him some money.
Us:  Umm...ok....
Ethan:  And then he "loosed" it all and got really hungry and had to eat the pigs trash.
Us:  (Laughing)  Ah...and then what happened?
Ethan:  And then he threw a big party and got some new clothes.

There you have it folks....the story of the prodigal son, according to Ethan.  (For the real story, check out Luke 15: 11-32.)