bubble day

if i've never blogged about it, i should have.  each evening before bed kyle and i pray with our children.  in the boys' room we consistently get the calm and thoughtful response from william, 'i want to pray for Jesus who died on the cross, for all of my school friends and ... that i'd get to play the LEGO game tomorrow' and from ben it can be anything from 'nushing' to 'meeee waaaaant tooooo praaaaaaay foooooooor daddy.  that he come home to work to home to work to home to work... and on and on...' i often cut him short and say, 'ok!  you want to pray that daddy comes home from work and goes to work safely?!'  he crosses his eyes, sticks out his tongue as though tweaking a nerve in his face and flops back on his pillow still as a statue -- his desire for clowning around stops for nothing. 

just a couple months ago, on a thursday evening, william begrudgingly accepted that he would have to go to school the next morning and he didn't want to for one reason or another... he piped up with excitement and said, 'i want to pray that we DON'T have school tomorrow!'

now when my children pray for things that i know won't come true - not unlike katie praying that when she woke up in the morning her hair would be the length of Catherine's in her class, or better yet, Rapunzel's from Tangled - i have to really search within my heart to pray what it is they want to pray for while also trying to shape for them how to pray in such a way that we're partnering with the Lord and His desires for our life... somehow long hair and no school just seems, well... silly.  and yes, 'saying' that out loud about my childrens prayers does sound a little scrooge-like.

well on the evening where the prayer was for no school.  i prayed it.  in the desire that my son would see something awesome happen that only GOD could make happen, i secretly prayed that it would go from 65 degrees to -32 and snowing so that the entire district would shut down and we could leap for joy as God answered my sweet son's prayer.

upon waking the next morning it wasn't cold enough for snow and i was a little disheartened.  i got all the kids in the car and off to school.  the first stop was katie's school... the parking lot was empty.  it was quite eery and i immediately felt an overwhelming anxiety that i was completely missing something and everyone was standing, arms crossed, foot tapping and annoyance on their face waiting for me to get with the program.  as i slowly drove through the parking lot i tried to look as though i knew what was going on - hoping that anyone watching me might NOT think i was a complete imbecile and take pity on me.  and then it hit me!  all of everett school district is out of school today!  and then it hit me AGAIN!  william just had his prayer answered!  i wooped and hollared in my heart!!  praise Jesus!!  you are sooooo good God!!

will giggled and praised Jesus - i smiled, shaking my head, and thanked Him for His sovereignty and we made our way back home.

****

just today on our way to drop katie off at school, she prayed that today would be 'bubble day'.  we knew that bubble day was coming as we rounded the corner and approached the final days of school, but we weren't sure when... again, i thought to myself, 'lets prayer for something big and spiritual!' but said nothing to that affect and asked the boys what they would like to pray for.  Ben says, 'me want to have school day and pay that it is bubble day for me too' ... really kids?!  what about praying for the heart of the jerk that you confront everyday in class or the mean girl streak that seems to take katie and her friends for emotional rides every so often?!  but no... again, the kids prayed for things completely 'silly' -- so says their mom.  i was apprehensive as though coming to accounting with a completely stupefying purchase request but prayed it anyway thinking it probably wasn't going to be bubble day.  katie hopped out of the car and we continued on to william's school - it was his last day.  we dropped him off and headed home...

at 11:45am we waited and waited for william's class to be let out.  it wasn't until closer to 11:50 or 55 when we were summoned to come upstairs to the room -- benjamin was THRILLED!  he was hoping and praying that today would be a school day for him and now he was being given admittance into one of his favorite classrooms at school!  he played and engaged with the other kids while we waded through the throngs of other small children and parents... gathering william's end of the year projects and offering our thanks and affections to william's teachers.  benjamin got his 'school day' albeit...

and as we walked out the classroom door, william tore open the bag of goodies his teachers had put together.  he reached inside and what do you think he pulled out?!

yep.  a bottle of bubbles.

everyone got their bubble day today... God hears the prayers of my children and i am so thankful. today has brought a smile from ear to ear.