before noon

7 a.m.
"Mameeeeeee! Wee-weeeeeeee! Ooooooo-weeeeee!" Louie called early this morning. A call from our eldest had woken me up at 4am so Barry smiled at me and walked across the hall to Louie's room.

"Good morning sunsh---Woo!" Bear stopped suddenly. Then I heard, "Hey buddy, you're supposed to keep those little poops INSIDE your diaper."

(I'm so grateful for hardwood floors.)

8:30a.m.

All around the piano for devotions, we sang a stirring sentence: "Glorious things of thee are spoken..." The next phrase is cut short though by a not so stirring sentence: "GROSS! You picked your NOSE! Go wash your hands!!!!"

(the offending nose-picker opted for hand sanitizer as a small form of protest)

11:00a.m.

"George Washington Carver was born in the time of slavery?" Jonathan asked with a worried look. "Yes, buddy. His parents were slaves and he lost them in the war."

"I wish I had a time machine," Jonathan whispered. "I'd go back and stop slavery."

(As I watched him try to concentrate once again on his math book, I knew deep within that my son will invest his gifts and strengths toward the goal of stopping the slavery that still exists in the world today.)