Girl vs. Storm

A scared little girl defeated a powerful thunderstorm today using the best weapon of all...prayer.

All day, the news talked about strong storms that were moving through the area with high winds and flooding predicted. I was keeping an eye on them using a weather application on my smart phone. The storms came all right. First to the east of us, then to the west but mostly avoiding the area where we live. But then I spotted a red blob on the radar map that was going to come right over top of us. I informed my kids that we were going to get hit by the storm at any minute. 

Thoughts of the last red blob to hit our area ran through my mind, and unbeknownst to me, the mind of my youngest daughter. The last time I believe a microburst hit our neighborhood causing localized damage to homes and landscaping. It felt like our house was shaking. We escaped with a tree in our back yard being uprooted, like many others. Some weren’t so lucky. At least one house had roof damage, and several had fencing torn down and even one had the block wall on one side of their property blown down. 

My daughter got very upset during that one but I was hoping that this time she would be less scared because it wasn’t as big. I was wrong.

This storm hit us fast and strong. It rained so much that we couldn’t see out the window. But this time it hit the front of our house instead of the back. Water was coming under the front door and in some of the upstairs windows. We put towels in place to prevent water damage.
She started crying and asking if we would be OK. I tried to assure her, but she is only 7 and gets scared to be upstairs by herself.

Not knowing what else tell her to calm her down, I suggested that she go say a prayer. She went and got the children’s Bible and sat in the chair, opened it up the page they had marked where the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer for those of you in Rio Linda) was, put her hands together and read. Then she closed her eyes and tilted her head up slightly. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but whatever it was, was meaningful to her. 

When she was done, she was no longer frightened. The storm lasted an few more minutes and then stopped as suddenly as it started. To her, the prayer worked and stopped the storm and kept us safe.

I admit that I got a little misty eyed watching her because my scared little girl defeated a storm and protected her family with a prayer. 

She Thinks We're 'Just Fishin'

I hope that country singer Trace Adkins doesn't get mad at me for using the title of one of his best songs as the title of this blog post. He is not one that I would want mad at me. But, the fact is that it is the perfect title, and song for that matter, and is what this post is about.

As the song says so eloquently, on the surface his daughter thinks that they are just having a good time fishing together but on another level, it is much, much more than that. They are actually bonding and creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Yesterday, while playing the classic children's game from Milton Bradley, Don't Spill the Beans, with my five year old daughter, this song came to mind as she just beat me for the second time. Just as in the song, my daughter was happy just playing the game with me, but something much more important was happening. We were creating memories for the both of us that would last a lifetime and increasing the wonderful father-daughter bond between us.

With her, it is especially important to me that we spend this kind of time together. She is the last of my five kids still at home so to speak. She will be off to school with all my other kids all too soon. These moments that we have together will be sorely missed. Once she starts school she will be started on her journey that will take here all through the years of school and eventually out of the nest just as the other kids will do. This is the beginning of my empty nest syndrome I think. I like to get an early start on things, LOL.

I can honestly say that I am really not looking forward to the day when the kids are all gone, on with their own lives. Even though I know that is how things are supposed to be, it will not make it any easier.
Having had the chance to be at home with my kids these past few years while they were growing up has been such an awesome experience and blessing. Despite the many difficult times, I would not change a thing. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to have had this experience. I am a much better person for having been able to do so.

So, I will continue to spend time with my kids '...just fishin' every chance I get.

Germs, Germs, and More Germs

For some reason, my almost five year old daughter has become consumed with thinking about germs and washing her hands. Almost single-handedly, she went through a whole bottle of hand soap in a week. Now her hands are getting really chapped in spots. Sometimes, after washing her hands, she wants me to smell them to see if they are OK. Sometimes it is funny, but by the end of the day it becomes annoying.

Last night things came to a head when her older sister, seven years old, didn't wash her hands after going to the bathroom and started playing her Gameboy. My youngest daughter started crying and saying that she wouldn't be able to play the game anymore because it was covered in her older sister's germs. I tried to convince her that it would be OK and the germs would not hurt her to no avail.  Her older brother tried to help by telling her that there are germs on everything but it just made her more upset.

In the end, I think I was able to explain to her about germs. I just don't want it to turn into an OCD.