Houdini Hopes...

My son has recently been exploring the world of card magic.
"Pick a card, mom, any card!" he'll say with a sparse worn out deck of mixed blue and red bicycle cards in his hand and a suave stage smile. I grab the one that's sticking out the furthest and relief comes over his face and his smile widens.
"Now look at it and put it back on top."
I look. It's the 3 of clubs. I put it back as instructed.
He attempts a false shuffle which, if done correctly, would land my card back on top. Instead, he jumbles them up into one big some-cards-are-face-up mess. He grimaces slightly and glances at me.
I am staring at him in amazed wonderment. He smiles again and slaps the deck twice, closes his eyes and flips the top card over.
"Is this your card?" He's holding his breath.
"Oh. My. Gosh. HOW did you do that?" His eyes widen at his own amazingness and he himself has to look at the card.
"I can't tell you," he says matter-of-factly, "it's magic."
It was the 5 of diamonds.

The last few attempts at things mystical has been his experiments with hypnosis and mind-control, Julia being his main subject of experiment.
While doing their chores the other day, which consisted of hanging their clean clothes up that were on my bedroom floor, I overhear Garrett gently saying to Julia, "Empty your mind. Empty your mind."
Julia, not as amused with his attempts to wipe her mind clean again says, "It's already empty, Garrett."
Garrett sighs heavily. "Juuliaaa...", he whines.
"Oh , alright." she says and she lays down on the floor and begins to chant while passing her hands slowly across her forehead.
"Empty my mind. Empty my mind. Empty my..."
"Hey, Julia!" Garrett interrupts her.
She sits up.
Garrett leans in and whispers, "Why don't we try to get mom to empty her mind so she'll let us watch TV all day!"
Enter mom, stage left, to break up the fiendish plan and let her little Houdini children know that moms have all power over mind-control and that attempts to hypnotize a female parental figure are indefinitely futile.
However, the male parental figure is completely intolerant when it comes to mind-control. Their bodies are especially influenced by it during the later evening hours.
Just ask them anything as long as they have a certain hand held controller and are staring blank-faced at a TV screen. They'll give you anything you want.

The Rescue Mission

There's nothing like witnessing the genuine care and compassion from one of God's living creatures to another.

My children never cease to amaze me or make me more proud than my smile alone can show.
Ok, so this may seem trivial to some, but to me it's a crowning moment in the history of my journey through motherhood thus far.

After we arrive home from a little post T-ball game snack at Braum's and are heading inside, my kids get distracted (as usual) and wander off to the left of the house. It's nearly dark outside and time for their bath and bedtime. After a few minutes pass, I contemplate calling for them to come inside when they all simultaneously collide into and eventually through the front door. Abby is a nose ahead of Daphne with Garrett and Julia bringing up the rear.

Abby has her hand closed as she approaches me and instinctively I draw back. She is not afraid of anything and has often come to me with creepy crawlies that she has given pet names and begs to keep.

"What?" I ask cautiously.
"It's a lightning bug, Mom. It was stuck in a spider's web."

She opens her hand. The little fella is still wrapped up in the vicious web sack and is blinking a frantic SOS.
All the kids have drawn faces and sappy eyes as they stare at the little bug with such unprecedented pity.

"Can we try to pull the sack off, Mom?" Abby asks as she stares at him, (probably already thinking of a name to give him), and raises a finger to begin the rescue process.

"You can sure try, baby." Although, I was doubtful he'd survive even that.

With all the gentleness a new mother gives to her first newborn, Abby and the others gently scraped their tiny fingernails over the sticky death sack until it disintegrated and freed the bug.
He was wobbly at first and stretched his wings for a while, but soon regained some energy and began making random flight attempts. We took him outside and he took to the night air as we all watched and smiled.

I don't know, but the fact that they saw this tiny helpless creation and decided it needed a second chance and were willing to come to its aid instead of walking away without a second thought, only helps me continue to realize what awesome children I have.