Big Stuff

Charlie is five which means he's big stuff. Ask him and he'll tell you. He can dress himself- unless it's for school or for church because suddenly on those days he's incapable of pulling his shirt over his head and wanders around the house shouting "Help! I can't see!" He can brush his own teeth, he can make his bed (mostly), he can clean his room (if bribed), and apparently he can do his hair.

Last Sunday morning Charlie miraculously dressed himself, brushed his teeth and did his hair without me asking. His hair is at an awkward stage. Because he is a boy and gets wild and dirty and hot in the summer I shave his head. He has two massive cowlicks on the back of his head that give me grief when his hair starts to grow out. I bought some pomade/wax to make his hair do one of those messy, spiky looks until it gets to a decent boy haircut length. He knows how I do the pomade so he attempted to do it himself.

I use enough pomade to cover the tips of my fingers. He used half the container. HALF the container of wax 10 minutes before we left for church. He was so proud of himself I made sure I gave him praise for his hard work and then hinted that maybe we should wash a little of the wax off to make it just right.

Lesson: wax doesn't "wash" out. I stuck his head in the sink and washed it/scrubbed it three times before I called my husband in a panic. "It's THICK with wax! I can't brush it! It's got chunks of wax in it!" He walked over and attempted to style it. Imagine tiny little pastor's kid with a mohawk. That's pretty much what it looked like. Thankfully he proudly told the 60 and older crowd that he did his hair himself and they all laughed because they lived in the pomade era and they totally get it.

After church Chad tried washing his hair (3 more times). That stuff doesn't budge. I got online and found that olive oil will take the wax out. I grabbed my olive oil and went to work. Ta-da! No more wax. Only now his hair (and the tub) were full of oil. I went back to the internet and discovered that Dawn dish soap removes oil from hair.

I marched into the bathroom with the dish soap and started scrubbing while Charlie pleaded "Please stop washing me with kitchen things!" And it worked! And I'm pretty sure Charlie will never do his own hair again.

Childhood Conversation

Charlie (with his face mashed against the screen door): MOM!!! MOM!!!! MOOOOOOOMMMM!

Me: What.

Charlie: I'm 64 cents! Dad says I'm 64 cents!

Me: You have 64 cents?

Charlie: NO! Dad says I'm 64 cents! He's messin' with me.

Me: Dad's messin' with you? Is he funny?

Charlie (clearly exasperated): Grrrrrrr...... No. Dad....is...MEASURIN' me.

Me: OH! He's measurin' you!

Charlie: Yes! I'm 64 cents tall.**

**And for clarification purposes that means 46 inches.

Thump

This morning I was sitting in the kitchen drinking my coffee and reading my morning blogs. Charlie is at school, Chad is at the Men's breakfast for church, and Henry....what on earth is that thump?

I looked into the living room and noticed he had pushed a footstool up to the back of the couch. He was climbing the stool and doing a FLIP over the back cushions and landing with a thump on the floor...over and over and over.

At least he isn't breaking anything.

Box of Books

While we were in Minnesota last month we got to visit with some friends who have recently moved out there. We've known them, worked with them, kind of lived with them a long time and it was good to see them again- and good to NOT be all alone out there.

Bryan officially has one of the greatest jobs EVER. Well, maybe his job isn't the greatest but his employer is. The day they came to visit with us was his official first day of work at...dum-dah-dah-dum....Desiring God Ministries! And the best part is...they brought us prizes! Two books by John Piper and a conference on DVD. We were so excited!

A couple of weeks ago Bryan had asked me if I'd ever heard of Helen Roseveare. I emailed him back and went on and on and on about how I LOVE her. While we worked in Pennsylvania the director had brought me a book from his personal library that he wanted me to order for the team. It was Living Sacrifice by Helen Roseveare. I went online and searched for it and discovered it was out of print. I contacted the publisher and got permission to make copies. The woman I spoke to at the publisher told me that Helen Roseveare "was no longer living and it was such a shame because she had heard her speak once and it was wonderful." I tried to copy the book on the copy machine but it wasn't turning out very well. So, I decided to try and type it out. The book wasn't that long and I could type pretty fast so I tried it.

I didn't like biographies much and I especially didn't like missionary biographies. They were all the same and all boring (I think at that point I had read maybe two biographies so clearly I hadn't read enough to know what I was talking about). No kidding, Living Sacrifice changed my life. I've actually read it three times. I never finished typing it because it was taking forever but I added that book to my mental list of favorites.

After I sent the email back to Bryan he replied that the publisher must have been mistaken because Helen Roseveare was speaking at the Desiring God conference in September! I was so excited because maybe that would mean she would have books there! I told Bryan the title of the one I loved so much and asked him to keep his eyes open. A few days later I received this book from him by Noel Piper. Awesome! It wasn't Living Sacrifice but she was still in there!

A couple of days after the conference Sarah emailed me the link to watch Miss Roseveare speak. She is a tiny British woman who has such passion for the Lord and she's very witty! It was kind of neat to put a face and a personality with the stories I'd read.

Yesterday when I got home from work there was a package in the mail. I never get packages so I was surprised. I saw Bryan and Sarah's name in the corner so I KNEW it was going to be books. When I opened the box I nearly had a heart attack.

That's six books by Helen Roseveare! There is also a DVD of John Piper's sermons on Romans. I think there were 5 more DVD's and two more books but my husband ran off with those. I'm already a couple chapters into the first book and I can't wait to read them all! Aren't friends the best??? Especially kindred spirits! Hooray for fellow booklovers!