Saturday Morning

"Mommy, winter is a long time," Madelynn tiredly, almost painfully, informs me. Yes my dear, winter is a long time.

I wonder if Daddy seemed to sense that, too, because this Saturday was waited for in anticipation. For this Saturday was when Daddy would help make the kids a new toy. The kids had fun the week before trying to guess what the new toy would be. They knew it would be made out of wood. But all their guesses were what they were familiar with. A new toy car? A doll? It dawned on me sometime this past week, that we only know what we know. We can't think beyond what we don't know. My kids had no idea what Daddy was going to make for them, because they had never seen one before.

It was a thought that I'm still casually pondering about. Sometimes I'm a little scared to apply those kinds of thoughts to real life situations. Like, I have no idea why Emily had to die at nine days old, but God knows. Just as Daddy knew what a fun new toy this was going to be, but the kids had absolutely no clue what it was, what it was called, or what it looked like, and of course how it worked.

Well, this morning it was time. Time for them to unravel the mystery of Daddy's idea. Daddy worked on Hudson's first, and when it was done, the kids laughed with delight. What was the toy? It was a Jacob's Ladder. Here's a pic from Google Images if you don't know what I'm talking about:

The kids are having lots of fun this morning playing with this toy. They've made caterpillars, letters, and yes, even finger snappers out of it.

And as the smell of roadkill venison roast drifts through the house, and the kids settle in for a quiet time, I think, yes, Madelynn, winter is long. But look at all the fun we are having! Summer will come soon. Most years it does anyway...