Can I just have some Cheerios?

Robbie had a fever today which makes him daycare ineligible for tomorrow. So Sam, Robbie, and I headed out to drop my sub plans off for tomorrow at school since I have to take the day off and then we decided to pick up some fast food since it was so late. We decided to go to the Steak-n-Shake in Avon and the following occurred.

While we are waiting in the drive-thru...

Robbie: "Do they have toys here?"

Sam: "No, they don't."

Robbie: "What do they have then?"

Me: "They have food."

Robbie: "BUT WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?"

You can't see the children's menu until you are right up to the ordering place, so I tell Sam what I want and then turn around to figure out what Robbie wants.

While I am having this little conversation with Robbie, (Do you want grilled cheese? No. Do you want a corn dog? No. Do you want chicken fingers? No.) Sam very clearly tells the Steak-n-Shake speakerbox "I want a number 3 combo with a root beer and a number 4 combo, large sized, with a coke. And I also..." he turns and whispers, "Robbie what do you want?" to which Robbie yells at the top of his lungs "I WANT TO GO TO MCDONALDS!" McDonalds is right next door and we are all exhausted, so he turns back to the speakerbox and says, "I guess that's it."

Speakerbox guy says, "So let me repeat this: You want a Frisco Melt with a Large Root Beer and a Bacon Cheeseburger with a Large Coke."

Sam: "No. The #3 combo was a Regular size. The #4 combo was the Large size."

Speakerbox guy: "Oh so the rootbeer is large and the Diet Coke is regular."

Sam: "We didn't order a Diet Coke. Let me just start over. I want a REGULAR sized #3 combo with a Root Beer and a LARGE sized #4 combo with a COKE, not diet coke."

This time there is a completely new voice on the speaker. A manager maybe?

Speakerbox manager: "OK, Sir, let me repeat this: You want a Frisco Melt combo with a root beer and a Bacon Cheeseburger combo, large sized, with a coke? What would you like on that burger?"

Sam tells him and we pull around to pay and pickup our order.

Around the corner, the pickup window opens and the guy at the window says, "You had the Frisco and the Bacon Cheeseburger, right?" Sam says yes and then he closes his window.

Thirty seconds later, someone different opens the window and says, "You had the two large root beers, right?"

Sam: "No. We had a LARGE coke and a regular rootbeer."

Original window guy comes over and sort of pushes new window guy away. "You didn't have two rootbeers?"

At this point Sam and I are hoping to just get SOME food and hopefully pay for only the food we actually ordered. They hand us a bag of food, two drinks (which we taste and seem correct), and a receipt that is not itemized. We dig through the bag and get the itemized receipt, and all seems to be correct. We drive next door and get a Happy Meal for Robbie.

At home, we unpack the food. Robbie (who is feeling poorly) says, "I don't want to eat this. Can I just have some cheerios?"

Who is God, Mommy?

About once a week, we read stories from Robbie's Children's Bible. It is full of colorful pictures and shortened "story versions" of scripture. A few nights ago we were reading the story of Adam and Eve. The story focuses on how Satan, as a snake, got Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by lying to them and getting them to question whether God really loved them.

In the story there is a classic "kid rated" illustration (similar to the one at the left) with Adam & Eve, and a snake. Robbie, very seriously, looks up after the story and says, "Who is God, Mommy?"

Wow. What a Big Question. This is one of those moments you pray about, hoping that you will have the right words to say. So I start to explain to my son about how God is our Creator, our Heavenly Father. He made Mommy & Daddy & Robbie. He makes the sun shine and the flowers grow and someday we will get to live with Him in heaven.

Robbie wrinkles his brow and says, "No, Mommy. Who is God? What does he look like?" Hmm... I tell him that you can't see God - that God is not a person like Mommy or Daddy. God is like the wind, you can feel Him, but you can't see Him. You can talk to Him, but you don't hear Him with your ears, you hear Him with your heart. I realize that I am probably doing a horrible job at explaining this. I am wracking my brain trying to find a way to answer this little guy and his Big Question.

Robbie is getting frustrated. "No, Mommy. Who. Is. God???" I ask him if he remembers how at Christmas we celebrate when baby Jesus was born and at Easter we celebrate how Jesus got to live again and went to live with God in heaven. I again circle back to the whole issue of how God is our father who lives in Heaven and looks out for us on Earth.

This is not the answer he is looking for. He picks the Bible off of my lap and points his little finger at the picture of Adam, Eve, and Snakey Satan. "Mommy," he says, "IN THIS PICTURE RIGHT HERE - Who is GOD? Which one is He?"

Oh.

I tell Robbie that God isn't in that picture. He responds, "OK!" Then he smiles, turns the page and says, "Can we read the one about the big boat, now?"

"There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men." ~John Locke

Ten Years

Today Sam and I have been married for 10 years.

We started dating in December of 1997 when he was a senior and I was a junior in high school. I followed him to Purdue University in 1999 and we got married during the summer of 2001. People often comment that we were so young to get married - only 20 and 21... but we loved each other desperately and also (and probably more importantly) had the same life goals.

We have our differences - he loves sports, I hate sports.

I love crafts, he hates it when I drag him through JoAnn's.

He is down to earth and dependable. I have my head in the clouds.

I am a complete nerd. He humors me. :)

Yet, we could sit and talk for hours about movies and television, quoting random lines and trivia and using imdb.com to confirm suspicions. Before we had a daycare bill, we would jump on the motorcycle and ride for hours, not talking, just enjoying the companionship and scenery. Now that we have our own family, we relish sharing experiences with our son and watching the world fresh through his adorable eyes.

My mother once said that she thought there was a little bit of chance to life when you got married young. You both have a lot of "growing up" to do and you never know how those changes could positively or negatively affect your relationship. One boy could grow into a good provider and another boy could grow into a bum... If that is true, then I feel like I have won some karma jackpot. Although we have both grown and changed, when I look in
to my husband's eyes I still see the boy I longed for and daydreamed about with the passion of youth... and I also see the man who is the excellent father and outstanding husband I adore today.

So here's hoping for another 10 fabulous years of keeping our wedding vows:

"Amanda, do you pledge your faithfulness in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all truth and tenderness, to live with and cherish Sam in the bonds of holy matrimony, as long as you both shall live?" I do.

"Amanda, what promise to you make to Sam?"

I, Mandy, give myself to you, Sam - to be your wife, partner, and friend.

I promise to love, honor, and cherish you in the covenant of marriage, from this day forward, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, through the best and the worst, loving you faithfully, as long as we both shall live.