"When Evil Comes, We Morph!"

Warning: obnoxiously long post, but it's been a very long day! :)

Today, I took Joshua into Little Rock for his Therapeutic Recreation. He and his group of FRIENDS were staying at the Center and doing "team building" activities all day, so I didn't worry about getting him there on time, like I usually do.

I ran a couple of quick errands and met my friend, Ruth, for lunch. It's always such a sweet treat to visit with her. We talked non-stop for over 2 hours, and probably could've talked like that for at least 2 more. Such an easy, fun friendship. I really miss her. We live an hour apart. She has 5 kids, we have 4...things are busy.

I had planned on picking up Joshua early today, like around 2 p.m. Car tags were due on one of our vehicles, and I figured that it would be packed on the last day of the month. But I ran late with Ruth, which was fine...I just mentally prepared myself that when I got back to town, I might have to wait an hour or more at the "car tag place."

As soon as Joshua got in the car, he began to recount his day...moment-by-moment. He talked about the team-building exercises they had done. One activity they did was for each FRIEND to list...on a piece of paper...things about themselves that others might not know. Descriptive words or phrases. Then they put all the papers in a stack and mixed them up, and each person randomly chose one to read...while all the other FRIENDS tried to guess who they were describing.

Joshua said, "Jenni knew it was me from the beginning."
Me: "Oh, yeah? What did you put on your paper that described you?"
Joshua: "Natural born leader, peacemaker, Godly, wise and patient."

Alllllllllllllllllll...righty then.

And, he said that Jenni asked him to teach HER about being a leader.

Which, does anybody remember when he posted on Facebook about being the one and only spokesperson for his group of FRIENDS and how it almost started a holy war up at Therapeutic Recreation?

Joshua said, "I'm like Obi-Wan and she is like my Padawon learner, like from Star Wars."

The last activity they did before lunch was to be divided into two groups...and each group had to build a pyramid with cups and whoever finished first was the winner. They were not allowed to use their hands. The program leader, Mrs. Alanna, gave them shoe laces and rubber-bands.

The FRIENDS looked at her like she was crazy.

Joshua's group did not win, even tho Mrs. Alanna said that the winning group needed to listen to each other more.

Joshua said that they all encouraged each other and cheered for each other.

I'm really hoping all of this good-will lasts until tomorrow.

So, I had packed salmon, a baked potato, steamed broccoli and a brownie in Joshua's lunch. All left-overs from the night before. Joshua LOVES left-overs. He told me, "I ate so slowly that I couldn't finish my broccoli. But I ate my brownie."

Priorities.

We buzzed into town and I went straight to the "car tag place." I could not find my little renewal paper anywhere. UGH. I thought it was in my purse. So, the man asked me if I knew the car-tag number, and by the grace of God, I pulled it out of the air like a boss.

What WHAT?

Pretty amazing, considering we have 5 vehicles in our family. But even more amazing because it was on Holly's car. We agreed to keep the insurance and everything on it until she is out of nursing school in June. When we had to get new tags last time, I had Joshua with me...and an older (than me) lady was helping me. She looked at me...and looked at Joshua...and looked at me for a long time...which, not gonna lie, kind of unnerved me at the time. Then, she walked over to the stack of license plates and went through them one by one until she pulled one out. I won't tell you what she chose for us, but it is SIMPLE for me to remember.

Bless her.

So, when I told the guy the car number, he put it into the computer and it popped right up. We were in and out of the place in 3 minutes. TOPS.

We were almost to our house when we noticed something dead on the road. It looked like a coyote, and we both commented on it. Yuck. Joshua was right in the middle of telling me that we had a bunch of things to celebrate next May/June. Holly's graduation from nursing school, Clark's high school graduation, Morgan's graduation from college, mine and Jim's anniversary...and then he started listing all the birthdays. I told him that Morgan is graduating in December and he goes, "well, we'll celebrate it in May, anyway."

Oooooooooooookay.

He said that he was going to tell Jim to give me an anniversary present. I told him that if we could get Holly out of nursing school and settled in her new job...and Clark out and settled in college...and Logan accepeted into Occupational Therapy school...I would be such a happy camper and I wouldn't want anything else.

WHAT?

And then he said that if he could just get his first BOOK published (stand in line, buddy) and MADE INTO A MOVIE by next May or June, he would be really happy...and went off talking about his next book about some "extra" Pow-Pow-Power Rangers, "The Adventures of the Charcoal Gray Ranger."

He said, "Holly doesn't like me to talk about it all the time."
Me: "Oh yeah?"
Joshua: "Yes, but like I told her (and at this point he puts one arm straight out, fingers spread...and the other arm out on top of it with the hand making a fist)...when evil comes, we morph."

So there you have it..."when evil comes, we morph."

"...O LORD, who can compare to You..." Psalm 35:10