Moses?

A couple of weeks ago I got to spend the week at my Grandpa's cabin with my mom's extended family. It's a beautiful location set in the mountains, right on a lake, surrounded by forest where you can really dwell in God's presence, surrounded by His creation.

Of course when you put twenty some people together for a week things are bound to happen and there's a few funny stories I just have to share.

The first is about my niece Addy.

All the kids are out playing and I believe I was working on a puzzle when we suddenly realized that Addy was missing. We start looking around, calling her name and one of the kids says "I think she's downstairs" at which point we're a little concerned since she's not allowed to be downstairs on her own.
I ran downstairs to the daylight basement only to find that she had locked the door so I started knocking, "Addy, it's auntie, unlock the door sweetie." Thankfully she listened and a moment later I open the door and ask her what on earth she's doing down there on her own.
"The girls left me here!"
Now it's time to go back upstairs and ask the 7 year old and the two 5 year olds why Addy had been left downstairs. That's when we learned that the oldest girl had needed to go downstairs for a moment and she'd been given permission, the two 5 year olds followed her because... well that's what you do with your older cousins, you follow them, and of course, Addy, who's only 2 followed right along. Now why the girls came out and left her? Well, that's something that we never did quite figure out but it was only for a moment before we found her again. Still it's enough to give this auntie a serious heart attack!

Next up was losing Michael. My eight month old nephew was in his little raft in the lake and always had an adult with him until we heard Ella, his 5 year old sister, say something and turned around and saw her holding her brothers raft.
Apparently there was a miscommunication and everyone thought that someone else was with him and he had started to float away when Ella caught him. Of course they were right next to the dock so it's not like he was in any danger but it was still a bit scary. Which is when we considered changing his name to Moses, you know the baby that floated down the river in the Bible as his sister Mirriam kept watch? Just sayin'.

There were other moments, like taking kids on a hike and trying to convince them to stay on the path so they don't get to close to the edge and fall. Or one child on the swings when another walks behind them.

The fact is that things happen. Kids do things that scare you to death. Adults glance away for a second and suddenly the kid has found a whole new way to get into trouble. But we still love them, they are some of God's greatest treasures and I'm blessed to have such wonderful kiddos in my life.