Dane's been having a personal prayer time each day. We worked very hard in September on reinstituting discipline in our lives, and he's embraced it wholeheartedly.
A week or so ago, as I was tucking him into bed, he told me that he thought we need to have a weekly Family Game Night. I agreed that was a great idea and recommended he discuss it with Daddy. The truth is, we do a LOT of family stuff, but usually I rent a good, ol' family movie, we pop popcorn, and sit up late on a Friday snacking and watching a movie together.
But he wants games. That's fine with me. I love games. I'd love to see us start spending time together playing cards or a board game. We play a lot of games when we're on vacation, but our lives at home are very busy and we seldom take the time.
Earlier this week, he announced that he thought he needed to start having a boy in his class over to visit. He told me that the boy doesn't even know where we live (he lives about 4 houses away from us) and Dane was very concerned about that. I agreed that we definitely should plan a play date.
Over the weekend, while bedding down in our tents Friday night, Dane came up with another of his "suggestions".
"Mom," he commented once I got settled on my air mattress, "I think we need to have family prayers while we're out here camping."
"Excellent idea, son," I responded. "Why don't you mention it to Daddy when he comes to bed?"
Don was just outside the tent, trying to untie his tennis shoes, slide them off, and get out of his socks while standing up with nothing to lean against before entering the tent. It took several minutes, but when he finally climbed onto the air mattress, Dane told him his idea.
"I think that's a great idea, Dane," Don said. "Why don't you start?"
Dane mentioned several prayer intentions, then Don moved to Daelyn and me. From the other tent, we heard Deanna pipe up,
"What about me?!?"
"I haven't forgotten about you or Theresa (her friend who went camping with us), Deanna. I'm just doing this tent first."
When he finished with my prayer concerns, he addressed Theresa. She mumbled something almost indistinquishable.
"What did you say?" I asked, not sure I believed what I thought she had said.
"An end to abortion," Deanna answered for Theresa.
"Oh. I thought you said, 'A ninja person'!"
All four children broke into uproarious and simultaneous laughter. I don't know what was funnier - Mommy not being able to hear or the idea of Theresa praying for a ninja.
It was a little difficult for Don to regain order at what should have been a quiet, solemn time. But, finally, we all chortled our laughter and turned our attention back to intentions.
"Theresa?" Don prodded. "Anything else?"
"Well," she said, "I just MIGHT have said 'a ninja person' - I'm not real sure!"
I don't think Don ever regained order after that. Dane's good prayer idea provided lots of family entertainment, though. If we could have just fit in his friend from school, we would have been able to hit all his ponderings from his recent prayer times in one fell swoop.
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