Child's Play

Lately I've been thinking a lot about children.

I guess it's been a little forced on me as I've been around Ben a lot, who is expecting a child in about 10 weeks. This is the first time one of my friends/someone I'm close to is going through the process of becoming a parent. It's really mind-boggling and intriguing to me. How does one prepare themselves to care for the life of another? Especially one so small and dependent?

I've had some really fun ideas involving learning more about child psychology and about parenting and I've shared my unsolicited advice with Ben and others this past week. But I can't take my brain off of the transformation one undergoes during parenthood...and what qualities make the parents 'good parents'.

It's fun to think about. And because I've been thinking about it so much I've been paying closer attention to families and their interactions. At the beach, being the creeper that I am, I watched this mother and her 3 young children. At one point the two eldest (who were probably 5 and 3) started army-crawling in the sand. They had been in the water already so the sand stuck to them...to their hair,bodies, faces, everything.


For some reason, watching the kids made me really happy. I started laughing thinking about how I had gotten to the beach, been very careful to take my flip flops off, carefully place down my towel and bag as to not get any sand on either and then get frustrated when sand got on me, or my towel or in my bag.

And there are these kids, enjoying every bit of rolling around on the white beach getting covered from head to toe in the sand. It looked like a blast.

So what do I do?

Naturally Kaylyn gets up, and starts rolling around in the sand herself--making sand angels and crawling around...and then runs down to the freezing cold water and dives in.

Aside from the entertainment value that my friends received, I am so glad I acted on the whim.

It was fun to be completely free and silly for a second.

To be a kid.

Bee Tea Dubs...Perhaps there are deeper lessons learned like how much we stress about not getting our hands dirty that we miss out on the Blessing of freedom that comes with not having limitations on what we are willing to do and living in complete Surrender to the Lord. . . . or perhaps this was a just great reminder that as children we are meant to be joyful and to embrace His creation.

Or maybe I'm just a crazy, silly person who doesn't know much better.

But in any case. This is one of two highlights of my weekend...the second is coming soon.