Captured Memories: The Shoot Out

Well, hello Mr. Blog. It is nice to meet up with you again. It's been quite a while....

One of the things I love about blogging is it is one of those things in life I feel little pressure about, which is probably pretty obvious based on the sporadicness (yes, spell check, I made this one up) of my postings.

Having a blog is so incredible because I am able to do something I love (write), while capturing memories made with the ones I love. Sometimes I get on a roll and record those sweet memories as they happen, and other times I simply enjoy making them, taking snapshots in my mind that can be relayed at a later date.

Either way, this little piece of cyber space is always waiting, ready and willing to oblige me whenever the time comes. And sooner or later, I find myself back here, welcomed as if I were never gone.

No harm no foul, minus a few holes in the archives.

All that to say, thank you for persevering with me as I relay some of those captured memories from the last few weeks over the next few posts.

I'm not sure how it happened, but Park seems to have discovered guns overnight. Although we have no actual toy artillery in our household, EVERYTHING has turned into a weapon of mass destruction.

Fingers, sticks, crayons, bats, and anything else you can think of are cocked and ready to be fired at any given moment of play. And let me not fail to mention the sound effects he has so eloquently mastered.

"POW POW...BOOM...BAM BAM!!!!, " he screams, while taking aim at various items in the living room.

I'm not going to lie, it is obnoxious.

So, as of recent, I've tried some various parenting techniques, such as setting some rules of engagement

Rule #1 We don't shoot living things.

Park's reply: "But Mommy, Uncle Rob shoots deer and elk and hogs. Aren't they alive before he shoots them dead."

Thanks to my hunting loving brother-in law, Rule # 1 had to be modified a bit. Although when I scolded him for this told him this, Uncle Rob was quick to remind me that he shoots with a bow and arrow and not a gun.

Clearly, that made me feel much better, as you can imagine.

Modified Rule #1: We don't shoot people.

Park's reply: "But Mommy, I just shoot bad guys."

I took a deep breath and decided to use this as a teachable moment. Feeling this was a good opportunity to impart some spiritual truth, I discussed with my son that bad guys are really just people who need Jesus.

I explained that God created the world, giving every single person a chance to decide if they will accept or reject Jesus. I ended the impromptu lesson with, "We don't want to shoot them because then they would not have an opportunity to meet Jesus and accept Him into their hearts."

Park looked very impressed for a brief moment just before his little face fell in defeat as he said, "I guess I can only shoot wild animals now."

I smiled, trying not to declare victory until he was well out of the room.

About 2 minutes later, I caught him shooting "bad guys" again. In case you are wondering how I knew this, his celebratory yells of "Yes! I shot him. I shot the bad guy!" clued me in.

He is a sneaky one, I tell you.

I gave him one of my best "didn't I just tell you we don't shoot bad guys?" looks, as I sternly said the obligatory "Park Ryland!"

Beaming proudly, Park replied, "Don't worry Mommy, I asked this bad guy if he wanted to accept Jesus and he said no. So, I shot him."

Oh dear. Not exactly what I had in mind with my little salvation lesson.

Re-Modified Rule #1 We only shoot pretend paintball guns. We are not actually harming anything we shoot, because paint does not hurt.

Especially animals and bad guys.

As for that victorious smile I was wearing? Well, let's just say it is covered in paint.

Going Public With Their Face

Lately, we have had some strange happenings in our household.

Every time I walk past our bathtub, there seems to be a new item floating in about an inch deep of water. These items have ranged from a necklace, Park's shoe, my lipstick, stuffed animals, all the way to Chris' car keys.

I felt pretty confident of who the culprit was, but it wasn't until I caught him in the act that I got the full picture of what was really going down.

A few days ago, I turned the corner of my bedroom just in time to hear Park saying these words, as he dunked six plastic monkeys in our bathtub...

"Today we are having a party because you are going public with your face. I baptize you in Jesus' name! Now, hold your nose while I pray for you. Thank you, God, for these monkeys. Please help them not to drown."

Chris has been baptizing after every service for the last few weeks and apparently these celebrations have made quite the impression on sweet Park.

And I have to say it has made a pretty huge one on us, too.

How amazing it is to see people go public with their faith (or as Park so eloquently put it..."face"), as they venture into the next step of their relationship with Christ!

And just to clarify, Chris has not let a single one drown.

Now if only we could say the same for Park....

Rest in peace little plastic monkey, who accidentally slipped down the drain during baptism festivities. At least it wasn't the car keys, though.