Children often pick the most inconvenient times to strike up a conversation. Nine-year-old Carson got chatty at bedtime recently just as I started brushing his teeth. "Ha-hah-ha-hah-ha," he said just as I started working up a good foam with the toothpaste. "What?" I asked as I brushed his bottom teeth. "Ha-hah-ha-hah-ha," he repeated as I tackled his back molars. Eager to get through the bedtime routine, I didn't feel like I could stop for chitchat, so I continued with his top teeth. "Carson, I can't understand what you're saying while I'm brushing your teeth," I explained. "Just wait a minute, and then you can tell me again." He shrugged his shoulders in acceptance and let me finish. I put a shine on his front teeth, and we were done. "OK, Carson, now I can understand you. What did you want to tell me?" I asked. Carson rinsed his mouth, spit the water into the sink, dried his mouth on a towel, and finally turned to me. "That's not my toothbrush."
Joe dropped the boys off at church for a lock-in to prepare for a program our congregation participates in called Lads 2 Leaders. They were in for a fun evening of eating pizza with friends and learning about song leading, scripture reading and other worship-related events. As Carson stepped out of the car, Joe went through a check-list of items Carson needed, getting progressively sillier as he moved down the list: "Do you have your Bible?" Yes. "Your speech?" Yes. "Your teeth?" Yes. "Clean underwear?" Yes. And with this, Christian popped out of the backseat and cried, "No fair! Why does Carson get to wear clean underwear and I don't?"
Sunday night during worship I was distracted during the sermon by the scent of sweet peas and looked over to see 5-year-old Mary Ashley putting a dab of hand sanitizer on 2-year-old Emma's outstretched palm. "Thank you," Emma mouthed as she rubbed her little hands together. I hoped the girls weren't disturbing the families around us, but I was at least glad to see they were being so careful about germs. A moment later I heard Mary Ashley whisper "thank you" and turned to see Emma remove chewing gum from her own mouth and put it in her sister's. (At least she did it with clean hands.)
