1997!'

2004.'

The Holy Alphabet... This is Beautiful

Kids Say the Funniest Things

 
    While I sat in the reception area of my doctor's office, a woman rolled an elderly man in a wheelchair into the room. As she went to the receptionist's desk, the man sat there, alone and silent. Just as I was thinking I should make small talk with him, a little boy slipped off his mother's lap and walked over to the wheelchair. Placing his hand on the man's, he said, 'I know how you feel. My mom makes me ride in the stroller too.' 

 
  
 
 
As I was nursing my baby, my cousin's six-year-old daughter, Krissy, came into the room. Never having seen anyone breast feed before, she was intrigued and full of all kinds of questions about what I was doing. 
  
After mulling over my answers, she remarked, 'My mom has some of those, but I don't think she knows how to use them.' 
 

 
 
Out bicycling one day with my eight-year-old granddaughter, Carolyn, I got a little wistful. 
 
'In ten years,' I said, 'you'll want to be with your friends and you won't go walking, biking, and swimming with me like you do now.' 
 
Carolyn shrugged. 'In ten years you'll be too old to do all those things anyway.' 

  
Working as a pediatric nurse, I had the difficult assignment of giving immunization shots to children. 
 
One day I entered the examining room to give four-year-old Lizzie her needle. 'No, no, no!' she screamed. 

'Lizzie,' scolded her mother, 'that's not polite behavior.' 
 
With that, the girl yelled even louder, 'No, thank you! No, thank you! 

   
On a brutally humid day, I walked past a miniature golf course and saw a dad following three small children from hole to hole. 'Who's winning?' I shouted. 
  
'I am,' said one kid. 'Me,' said another. 
 
'No, me,' yelled the third. 

Sweat dripping down his face, the dad gasped, 'Their mother is.' 

On the way back from a Cub Scout meeting, my grandson asked my son the question. 
   
'Dad, I know that babies come from mommies' tummies, but how do they get there in the first place?' he asked innocently. 
 
After my son hemmed and hawed awhile, my grandson finally spoke up in disgust. 'You don't have to make something up, Dad. It's OK if you don't know the answer.' 
 

Just before I was deployed to Iraq , I sat my eight-year-old son down and broke the news to him. 

'I'm going to be away for a long time,' I told him. 'I'm going to Iraq .' 
  
'Why?' he asked. 'Don't you know there's a war going on over there?' 

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.
 
We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.
 
The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in 'Mom let's run through the rain,' she said.
'What?' Mom asked.
 
'Lets run through the rain!' She repeated
 
'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.
 
This young child waited about another minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain.'
 
'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.
 
'No, we won't, Mom. That's  not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.
 
This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?
 
'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'
 
The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes.
 
Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in  a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.
 
'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,' Mom said.
 
Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.
 
And yes, I did. I ran.. I got wet. I needed washing.
 
Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME  TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.
 
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Send this to the people you'll never forget and remember to also send it to the person who sent it to you. It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them.
 
If you don't send it to anyone, it means you're in a hurry.
 
Take the time to live!!!