why yes, we are ripped ;)

     Elijah has a keen eye for details, and today was no exception.  While he was not wearing the exceptionally loud tam seen above, his focus was nonetheless on his wardrobe.  "Daddy," he said looking down at his jeans, "you and I match!"

    For the record, we didn't match at all.  He is infinitely more handsome than I (blame his mama for that one), and he was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, while I was wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt. But... he's almost always right on these sorts of things, so I let it play out.  "How's that, LJ?" I said.

  "Look at this!" he said, pointing to his knee.  "You have one too!"  And lo!, like every other time, he was right.  Directly above each of our right knees was a big old-fashioned hole in our respective trousers.

  "You're so right, LJ!"  I said, proud of his little inner Sherlock Holmes.  "We're both ripped!"  Offhandly I said to Rachel, "You know why, right?  God made us that way."  With a wink and a little flex, we were both on our way.

     Rule #22:  Children hear everything.

         The above story, while funny, would have been a bit of a footnote except we had a trip to Target right after supper to kill an evening and try to forget that we hadn't seen the sun in four days.  After a very productive half hour of shopping, we were on the home stretch.  Judah sat contentedly in the cart, while the oldest knight-in-training was plunked down on my shoulders.  I had almost forgetten he was there when he bellowed, "Mama!"

       "What is it?" Rachel said.

      "Do you know who put the rip in my pants?"  LJ said.

      "No," said Rachel.  LJ loves loves loves playing the 'somebody' game ("Mama, somebody just pulled the blinds up for you"... "Mama, somebody just gave you tickles..."), so it was pretty obvious where this one was going.

     "God did!"  Elijah hollered.

      Rule 22a:  Even when children hear everything, they understand only half of it-- and that NEVER stops them from repeating it.

                        So whether you're looking at his tiny biceps or the big hole in his jeans, Elijah would like you to know-- God made him ripped!

                       Have a good night all!