Child's Play

By Sarah (Living Between the Lines)

This Christmas, I got—um, shall we say, drafted—to assist with a children’s Christmas program. This particular church only has about 15 children and they’re all below the age of six. A single, childless lady in her twenties volunteered to direct the program and found a play that was age-appropriate for these children. And she has spent the last several weeks herding cats attempting to direct this play. She got all of the parents to agree to help direct traffic to the stage, and on the stage. And she recruited another young childless friend of hers to help with the sets and costumes. And then, because nobody else would, she began learning lines so that she could also—in addition to directing—be the narrator of the play.

This woman was quite possibly the bravest—or most naïve—woman I have ever met.

Because I don’t regularly attend this church, I missed all of this pre-program fun. I missed the practices and the costume-making and the set-building. I just knew I needed to be there at 10:00 on that Sunday morning, to assist. By 10:03, I was ready to jump ship!

When I walked into the dressing room at 10:00, there were 15 children and at least as many adults. The oldest boy—wearing his costume—was standing on one side of the room bellowing, “WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE! WEE!” When I finally left the room twenty-five minutes later, he still hadn’t stopped. Both of his parents had been in the room and neither said anything to him.

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One Word At A Time: Down

By Ginny (MAD21)

"D-O-W-N, down!" You say that in my house and you'll hear a big round of giggles. And for those of you who understand why without me explaining... ya, I new we'd be good friends. For those of you in the dark here, these are among some of the famous words/phrases of Candace, the big sister of Phineas and Ferb in one of the best cartoon series currently on TV. Let me take a moment to enlighten you:

Candace is always on a mission to catch her brothers during their never-ending pursuit of building the coolest inventions each episode, and get her mom to see them before the invention disappears for one reason or another. One could say she is obsessed with getting her brothers in trouble, to the point that she misses out on things going on in her own life. In one episode, she has her best friend, Stacey, hypnotize her so she doesn't even think about what her brothers are doing so that she can go have a fun day with her boyfriend, Jeremy.

Focus on what you have, not on what you don't have.

While it's a lot of fun watching Candace's antics in her never-ending pursuit to "bust her brothers," I would offer this advice for those of us in real life who may tend to also lose sight of what is important. Choose to seek out the good in people and things around you instead of dwelling on everything that is wrong.

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One Word At A Time: Swings

By Ginny (MAD21)

If you were ever around me as a kid, you would know that anytime we were near a playground there was one place you could almost always find me... on the swings. Watching my own children over the last several years, I've wondered if it's genetic. They are like most kids running around going down the slides, or jumping over the bouncy bridge, etc. But almost always, both of my girls revert back to the swings.

When my oldest was a toddler and we went to the playground, we would spend almost the entire time with me pushing her on the swings. It was your purest joy (both for me and her!). She still prefers swinging over most things. Her swing of choice? The regular swing. My youngest, however, prefers the tire swing. Which should show the difference between the two. One enjoys things as they are, the other wants more excitement. This is my scary future you see before you. Haha!

One of my fondest memories as a child was going on the long five-hour drive to visit my aunt and uncle. They were so good to me. They were some of my favorite people. One of the things I loved about going to visit them at their house was the giant oak tree outside their house. It always had a tire swing on it. I loved the tree... and the swing.

I've often wondered why we love to swing. What is it about it that brings so much joy. Like rocking in a chair, sky diving, hang-gliding, repelling, or riding in a boat, I wonder if it's a small sense of freedom. The closest we'll ever feel to flying. Whatever it is, I hope I never grow up so much I forget how much joy such a simple thing can bring.

This post is a participant in a blog carnival over at Peter Pollock's place.
After you finish here, be sure to go and check out what everyone else wrote on: Swings

Fingerprint Friday: Good Days

By Ginny (MAD21)

Family. Friends. Perfect weather. Perfect water. Boat rides. Birthdays. A ton of fun and lots of laughter. Good days. Definitely one of God's fingerprints.

Fellow blogger Beki at The Rusted Chain has a really great weekly post she does every Friday called "Fingerprint Friday." We are to look around and see where we can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Anywhere? Go find out where Beki saw God this week, and be sure to check out the other bloggers who linked their stories as well.

Fingerprint Friday: A Child's Perspective

By Ginny (MAD21)

My daughters love to take off with my camera. It's great to live in the age of digital cameras that make it possible for them to take as many pictures as they want without worry of the cost of film and developing.

My family attended an outdoor college graduation last weekend. The weather was spectacular and we had the best "seats" in the grass next to the field. The girls could watch the events if they wanted or just run around and play. My youngest decided to take my camera and wander around and take pictures of things that interested her.

I love to see the pictures that the girls take. I am amazed at how many times they get some really good shots of things we would normally pass by.

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