We were invited to a friend's neighborhood pool today. All the other children in the area are in school, so we had the whole thing to ourselves! It is good to be a homeschooler!
After lunch, everybody dressed -- complete with cover-ups and flip flops; gathered their goggles (that's goggles, Sarah -- not googles); sunscreen and towels. The four of us marching out to the van are quite a sight, but not as much as when we all stop dead in our tracks to stare at Dumpling and pray.
5 steps out from the front door, Dumpling calmly announces, "Bee!"
And yes, there was a fuzzy bee crawling around on her hand. All around, up and down, in and out between the fingers, over and under -- for what seemed for.ever! I asked the other two girls to move away, as if maybe Dumpling might explode and I was taking measures to minimize the collateral damage. Really, I had time to ask Jesus to move that bee away at least a half-dozen times! And He kept saying, "Wait."
So, I did what any reasonable, rational mother would do. I began blowing on the bee. Surely a little wind would not cause it to sting. But it didn't cause the bee to move either. See how long it's taking to read through this incident? The real thing lasted even longer.
More prayer. More blowing. Laying on of hands (and I count myself mostly a non-demonstrative Presbyterian! Ha!) with more prayer. Still crawling. Have I mentioned how still and "cool" 6-year old Dumpling was throughout this uncomfortable suspense?
And then it happened. One of us learned a little something about trust and patience -- and it wasn't Dumpling. I wasn't outwardly panicking, but I'm sure Dumpling could sense my failing faith. I needed to do something! I needed to rescue my darling child! So, as I tried and failed again to blow on the bee, Dumpling softly, sweetly and reassuringly said to me, "It's o.k., Mommy. He won't sting me."
*exhale*
And so we waited. And then he flew away. And we went swimming. And I admired that my young daughter showed me her faith by her work.
5 comments:
I adore your kids. They are absolutely precious. And wow. I admire their faith (and their mom)!
LOL...you did good MOM! This is from the woman who spent a week earlier this month with a swollen face from a bee sting in the forehead.
I was teasing you about bloglines. I don't think I've seen more than 3 new posts beside your name on my list. ;)
Claire got stung by a bee in the armpit last week. In a freak accident, the bee flew under her arm at the exact moment Claire was lowering it, trapping the bee. The bee stung her, immediately, but sadly succumbed to his fate when she inadvertently decapitated him. What was left in her armpit was the abdomen of the bee with his stinger in her armpit. My Mom had to PULL the bee out of her. Poor baby.
Living only 2 seconds from the park, Mom brought her home and I immediately administered Benadryl and Tea Tree Oil. She slept for about 4 hrs! W/in a few minutes, the huge welp had decreased to small bump and by the afternoon all swelling was gone.
But, a week later, we were in Target and she saw a picture of a bee on a birthday card and she says, "Oh Mom! Dat bee bit me in my arm!!" And she raised her correct arm up and pointed with her other finger. Then she says, in a pathetic voice with a most endearing look on her face, "Dat wuz a MEAN BEE" (growling the words Mean Bee.)
It was TOO FUNNY! She remembered!
Poor Clairbug!
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