There's nothing like the joy of a child.

Do you ever look forward to something so much and then are disappointed because it didn't meet your expectations? Yeah, well, that was last night, unfortunately. I mean it was nice to be with friends and play crazy games and wrestle with silly boys but I guess I pictured more than that... I don't know....... I guess that's totally my fault, not the party's or anything! I mean, how often are we disappointed because of our OWN expectations? I'm totally not trying to be insightful or anything because I know this is a given....

Here is my little bit about children:

Well, ANYWAY, I'm going to tell you one thing that just absolutely made my day today. Today was my one out of two Sundays every month where I teach Bible study for a group of preschoolers at church. They are absolutely the sweetest children I have ever met. I do a lot of kids ministries, and those kids are some of my favorites.
Jade and Avery, these two beautiful girls who always come in with bows and pretty dresses, grabbed my hands and asked me to play Pretty Pretty Princess with them; I had no idea what I was doing.

Then later on, we played with this big wooden house with wooden people and wooden furniture. I had no idea what any of the furniture was. So, I would say, "Avery, what is this?", and she would say, "That's a vacuum", or "That's a potty".

I wanted to feel so stupid for not knowing anything about those games and toys, but then I remembered how much it means to them when you ask. Adults are always telling them "how it is", and I know kids want the chance sometimes to be able to explain things to the 'older people'.

Children must love the feeling of, "gosh, adults just don't know anything!" :) I know that Avery was always happy to explain to me that the object was, in fact, a potty, and that Jade loved telling me the rules of Pretty Pretty Princess.
From my understanding, children know a lot. Stop and ask them something once in a while. They will appreciate it!

Also, something else I found interesting was watching the interaction betweem children. I know that God has wired us (boys and girls), from the BEGINNING, to be different and distinguished from each other. So just watching that in action is FASCINATING! As soon as the girls walk in, they go to play with the dolls and ponies. When the boys walk in, they run for the cars and action figures. I just syatyed to notice that there is indeed a reason why one side of the room has all the "boy toys" and the other side has all the "girl toys".

..But it's funny how an occasional game of bowling (the mini childrens toy, of course) can bring the two genders together.

Anyway, I just love hearing the conversations between both groups. I love hearing the girls talk about getting their ears pierced and then seeing the excitement on the boys' faces when they see that chocolate chip cookies are for snack that day. Kids are so wonderful.

For craft today, they made family trees. I taught them the Bible story about how different Jacob and Esau were from each other but that they were still a part of the same family that loved each other.

Before snack, I asked if anyone wanted to pray. Of course, this normally gets a few hands. One boy in particular (I can't remember his name at the moment), raised his hand first and seemed pretty excited, so I asked him to pray.. but I didn't at all expect him to do what he did.....
He started singing.
He started singing this song....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_IrdS-zu48

"The Lord is good to me,

And so I thank the Lord,
For giving me the things I need:
The sun and the rain and the appleseed;
Oh, the Lord's been good to me."




It absolutely made my day.





Okay, now I'm feeling some chocolate milk and Disney movies.


♥