The country hostage taker

Monday was quit a day at our house. It started out as any other day. I got the kids up and ready and sent Grace off to school. Then after we made the beds Olivia and Noah snuggled up on the couch with me to read a few books. When they had tired of that they ran off to play in our back room. I sat down to check my email and noticed that the heat index for the day was only in the upper 80's. This was a great treat since lately it has been in the 100's and kept us from playing outside most of the summer. So I quickly put shoes on everyone and we went out to play on the front porch. I was so nice. I mean there was a soft breeze and Olivia and Noah were chasing the cat around the porch just having a great time. What could be better.

Then it happened.

The cat jumped off the porch to investigate a small sound. Not thinking much about this I turned my attention to the kids who were now playing with their chairs. But something was off. It is very unusual for Kit (our cat) to leave when the kids are outside. Then I heard an strange noise in the bushes right next to me. I leaned over the railing to see what the cat was doing. He was in strike mode. Uh oh, I thought, he is about to get some poor squirrel or something. That's when I saw what Kit had cornered in our bushes. It was a raccoon! Thinking of all the horror stories I have heard about raccoons and rabies I jumped out of the swing and told Olivia and Noah to run inside. They just looked at me like I was crazy. I mean from their point of view we hadn't been out long at all. So they don't move. At this point the raccoon jumps onto the porch with us. I fling open the door and yell ," Run inside!" This only made made both kids scream. Finally Olivia dashes in the door, but Noah is frozen with fear and won't budge. I tell him a second time to come in quick. But its too late! The raccoon runs in the house and over to Olivia. I'm thinking at this point how am I going to get this thing out of the house. It goes right up to her a starts sniffing her leg. Before I can get to her she goes hysterical and lets out a banshee of a scream that sends our furry visitor right out the door. Whew, at least it isn't in the house.... but wait... now Mr. Raccoon runs straight for Noah. Noah starts jumping up and down crying. I run to snatch him up before he scares the poor thing so bad that it attacks him. After I pick him up I dashed inside and slammed the door.

You would think that that would be the end of it, but no. The raccoon refuses to leave and parks itself on my door mat. We were being held hostage by a small raccoon. Kit tries to come to our rescue ,but it was to no avail. He gave our cat such a wallop that Kit went running off into the field beside our house not to be seen or heard from for a while. I'm not sure when Mr. raccoon decided to leave, but by three o'clock that afternoon it was no longer there.

Thank goodness we were all OK...even our cat. But isn't that how life is? We get held captive and become frozen with fear by the small things in life. We are all held hostage by small things in our life... things that just don't wont to leave or things that we are unsure of... is it dangerous or harmless? We don't know, but it sure does send us screaming and running to a safe place. Thankfully were serve a God who is better than animal control. He can run those things off and free us from our captivity... if we only call on him and ask for help.

Hearing from God

This happened a few months ago so please allow me to digress.

It is every mother's dream for their children to grow up to be independent and hear from God. When this happens you know that they will be OK because the choices that they make are based on obedience to what God has said. You just never expect really to hear the words "God told me" to come out of the mouth of a kindergartner. I don't know why it comes as a surprise really. I mean we pray that they will know God at a young age, that God will use them, but when a six year old comes home saying God has spoken to them we doubt the authenticity of this. Why? I guess sometimes we doubt the power of our prayers. Now the following story is completely true, but weather or not Grace really heard from God... I guess only time will tell.

It was late spring when Grace came home from school full of excitement. "How was you day?" I asked as I picked her up from school. "Good," she replied. I could tell she had something to say so I pressed her farther. "Soooo, what happened to day?" That's when she spilled the beans.
"God spoke to me today!" she blurted out.
"Really?! What did he say?"
"Well, I was laying on my mat at nap time and God told me who I was going to marry."
"Really?"
"Yep, I was looking at John Tyler and God said, 'Grace you are going to marry John Tyler'."
"God, Told you that?"
"Yes."
"How do you know that it was God?"
" Because I heard him in my thoughts .... and I just knew it was him."
"OK, well you have a LONG time before you have to worry about that. So lets keep praying about it and wait and see."
"OK, but I know what God told me."

Thankfully she is only six so I don't have to worry about wedding bells anytime soon. But it really thought me something about myself. If I pray that my children will hear God and obey him...then I should expect to hear them tell me that they have heard from Him. Now I'm not saying that God told her who she was going to marry, but I'm not saying he didn't. Only she knows if she did. And if in 20 years she does marry him then I know she did hear from Him. I just have to keep praying that they will hear and obey, and that all other voices will be silenced.