"Regular Days"

Randy and I are in Ohio visiting family this week. On Sunday, we started the day at church and ended the day with Family Dinner Night. 

While Tessa was sitting on my lap at church she said, "This reminds me of the regular days." I said, "You mean, the 'good old days'?" And she said, "Yes. I just call it the 'regular' days."

And she is right. It was very reminiscent of the "regular days" before I moved to California. And certainly one of the best parts of the "regular days" was being all together as a family.

In the evening, as Kari was putting the finishing touches on dinner, Kaylee called us all into her room for a magic show. Randy and I, my dad, my aunt, my brother, and a couple of the kids all piled onto Kaylee's bed, prepared to be amazed. She made things appear out of "nowhere", and out from under her hat, and then put on a puppet show. It was fun to watch her use her imagination, even if it isn't her destiny to be a famous magician. 

After dinner the kids usually run off to play while the adults clean up and get a chance for "grown-up" conversation. I was looking forward to this part of the evening. After all, it isn't just the kids who I miss and who miss me. It's also my brother and sister-in-law, my parents, Kari's parents, and my aunt who is soon to be relocating to the area. 

But just as the conversations were beginning, Kaylee appeared and asked me to come to her room. Admittedly I was not excited about another puppet/magic show. So I told her I was going to talk with the adults for awhile. She gave me a disappointed look, then went to find someone else to go to her room with her. But she kept coming back to me, and I kept putting her off. Finally, after seeing that the others she had dragged into her room had emerged again fairly quickly and seemingly unscathed, I relented. 

She invited me to sit on her bed and then went to the bookshelf. Where she sorted through a pile of books until she found the one she was looking for... the daily devotional Bible I had given her for Christmas. 

All along she had wanted me to come to her room so I could read her a Bible story. 

"I can find the shortest one," she said.

"That's okay," I said. "We can read as many stories as you want."

My initial reaction was to feel guilty that I hadn't been more receptive to Kaylee from the beginning. But I couldn't have anticipated that she wanted to read about Jesus rather than pull a rabbit out of her hat. Besides, it is perfectly acceptable to spend time with the adults and let the kids play on their own. So how do we let go of the guilt of saying "no"?

I think the thing I did "right" here is that, once I was with Kaylee, I gave her all of my attention. I let her know that she was important and so were the stories she wanted to read.