His Timing Is Impeccable

At bedtime tonight, Josiah asked to be allowed to stay up to read a chapter of the book he's currently devouring.  I said yes, he read it, and then the request came for "just one more chapter?"  I said yes again; after all, he's reading God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew, so how could I say no to his request?  After he finished that chapter, he popped out of bed again; and I looked up from my seat at the desk in the living room to see his quickly-growing frame loping down the steps.  His question this time:  could I come up and cuddle with him?

Now normally that request would receive a quick ix-nay on the uddle-cay.  After all, I have things to do!  And it's not Sunday night, so we can't cuddle.  Because Sunday is our cuddle night.  And this is Wednesday.  So no cuddling.  But I love you, and goodnight.

Tonight, however, I had just finished reading this article by Rick Boyer.  Josiah had no idea about that, but he could not possibly have timed his request better.  With Rick's last sentence, "Turn off the vacuum cleaner for a minute and go hug your kids," still ringing in my ears, how could I say no to Josiah?  We walked up to his room with our arms around each other, discovered that David was still awake, then all crawled into David's bed for some Quality Snuggle Time.  And you know what?  It was the best cuddle time!  Josiah asked me what I want for Christmas, David told me (in response to my question to him, "What do I need to change to be a better mommy?") that I hurt his feelings a few days ago by speaking harshly, they both agreed that we need to have more children (with Josiah suggesting that we have two more, and David stating that we needed ten more, then modifying his answer to say we need 100 more!), we laughed at the thought of so many children and talked about how we could get more bunkbeds and let eight boys sleep in their room...but where would we put everybody's clothes?  We decided that each person could only have two pairs of pants, two pairs of underwear, two pairs of pajamas, etc.  :)  I brought up George Mueller and how he helped care for so many children through his orphanages, and told David that maybe when he grows up, he'll start an orphanage, too.  David thought that might be too much responsibility (his exact word, although he mispronounced it) for him; but Josiah, ever the leader and organizer, thought that he might like that job.  We listened to John Elliott's reading of Ezekiel 1 and marveled at the majesty and power of Ezekiel's vision of the Lord.  I loved my time with them.

I would have missed it, if it hadn't been for Rick Boyer's article (and the HEAV weekly newsletter which brought it to my attention).  If you have two minutes to spare, go read that article.  It will make you smile, and it might even put a lump in your throat.  What's more, it will help you make the {right} decision to turn off the vacuum cleaner and go hug your kids!

It is not my intention to drag out my response to Mary's question about my relationship with my mother-in-law, and I feel badly that I haven't finished that yet.  I was fully intending to do so tonight, but the impromptu snuggle session consumed my time--and rightly so.  Maybe tomorrow?  But you know, since my writing motto seems to be "To Make a Short Story Long," it's hard to tell how much time it will take me to finish the tale!  ;-)