War, Basketball, & the Missing Boots

War

Guess what has taken our house by storm lately? War!!! No, I am not referring to Nerf War. That was so two weeks ago. We are talking about the card game. In fact, War has been played so much in our house that I can assure you that our deck of cards now only contains 52 cards. Yes, that sounds normal, but the problem is two of those cards are Jokers. If you use Jokers to play War, the game ends much faster. That is my brilliant tip-o-the-day. You are welcome.

Our two youngest fries wake up and play War as soon as they finish eating their breakfast. I break up the fun to make them go get dressed, and then they are right back at it. Even bus time does not make much difference. Daniel shoved the deck (nicely packed in the box they came in, miraculously enough) into his book bag this morning. He said he is going to play War at recess too.

Alan and I get roped into playing War a good bit too, at least once/day. I think it is sort of fun. I would rather them play me than play each other and end up arguing and accusing one another of cheating. *Groan.*

So if you are wondering what I personally have been up to lately, rest assured, I have mostly been playing cards.

Basketball

Basketball season is officially over, which no one here is happy about. This sport is so important at our house that we just purchased a SECOND basketball goal. This one will be adjusted for the younger boys’ heights, and it will go on the patio in our backyard. John David has been asking for this since Christmas, and I decided it made sense. Plus, that way I won’t have to worry about him playing in the street. We live on a cul-de-sac, but still.

The new goal arrived Monday afternoon, and John David went right to work on Alan to get this thing built. Well, first he asked me. Hahaha! “Sorry, Sweetie. Mom does not have the know-how or the giant strong man muscles Daddy has. This is going to have to be a Daddy job.”

Alan arrived home Monday night, and there was JD. “Dad, I need you to build my goal. Please? When?”

Day 2, Tuesday. John David arrived home from school and went straight to the garage to discover that the goal was still in its box. At some point while I was cooking and not paying attention, JD and Daniel managed to take some scissors to the box and completely open the packaging to the new basketball goal.

John David came in and proudly announced to me that he had the box open. Now could I put it together?

I seriously do not build things with tools. I cook the dinner. Alan builds the things. It is a deal that we have. I stressed hard to the boys the importance of not touching anything in the box because if they lose so much as a peg, we will never be able to build it.

Alan arrived home slightly after 5, and he had to walk past the now opened box of the basketball goal. JD made a beeline for his dad and reminded him, “Now you can put together my basketball goal?”

Persistence is a quality children use extremely well.

“Um..uh..Okay. John David, let me eat dinner. We will build it soon, okay?”

I went looking for Alan soon after dinner and found him out in the garage, with John David, steadily putting the goal together. It was dark and raining Tuesday, so Alan got it put together into 3 pieces for quick assembly outside once the weather improves.

Wednesday night we had both church and Joshua’s basketball playoff game, so the goal had to wait. It is insanely windy today, but I would bet anything that John David will come home expecting that goal to be finished and in the backyard today.

It reminds me of that Bible story about how God will answer our prayers when we make our request over and over, just as John David wore down his dad. Alan went from planning to build the basketball goal this weekend to building it Tuesday because of sheer persistence of one small boy.

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Luke 13: 1-8

The Case of the Missing Boots

As I may have mentioned oh maybe 1,000 times, moving is such a pain. With every single move, some random object goes missing. It usually is not permanently gone. Rather, it has been put where it does not belong, like the big family Bible that spent 2 years rolled up in a blanket in a blanket box. I thought we had lost that Bible for good until we found it during the NEXT move. Oy!

Then there was the move where 6 salad plates disappeared never to be seen again. When we moved to Georgia, I lost six crystal glasses–nice fancy ones that were wedding presents.

This move it was my tall black boots. They are an important staple in any girl’s winter wardrobe, especially on a thirty degree day when you want to wear a dress to church. I have spent most of this winter wearing pants to church simply because I could not find my dress boots.

In October, I began the hunt, briefly looking before church each Sunday morning. In November, I began to look more earnestly, thoroughly searching all storage and closet areas. By December, I was firmly convinced that I had checked every nook and cranny of this house, but the boots had simply gone the way of the salad plates and crystal tumblers. They had vanished to that island of lost things, like the toys in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special.

In January, I quit looking for them. I had plantar fasciitis/heel spur syndrome anyway. I bought a pair of extra cushy gray Ugg knock-offs for $20 at Aldi. These would be my black boots this year.

Then, a week ago, I was killing a few minutes in the storage room next to the laundry room, while I waited for the clothes in the dryer to dry for just a few more minutes. There was a clear rubbermaid tote directly in front of me with my name written on it. I wondered what all was in it. I popped open the lid, dug past the top few layers, and there they were. There were my boots, three pairs of boots actually. I had completely forgotten about the cowboy boots and the black Ugg knock-offs I bought last year!

Wahoo! I was so excited I dug out all three pairs of boots. Then I made Caleb take a picture of me with the boots, and I sent it to my mom.

I left them on the storage room floor, where a week later they still sit. There isn’t room for them in my closet. I must not need them that badly if I made it most of the winter without them, but it is nice to know they are there. Maybe if I put some heel cushions in them I could even wear them.

So all in all, it has been a happy week around here. I hope you are all doing well too.