My Two Geppettos

Recently, we purchased a Veggie Tale DVD entitled "Pistachio" (obviously, a twist on the classic Pinocchio). The boys adore this new movie and have watched it many times.....(perhaps for the last time given its untimely demise with Emet using the DVD as a skate to slide across the room...but that's a story for another time...)

Yesterday morning, the boys were playing outside and I was in the living room doing my Bible study. I had given strict instructions for them not to come in unless someone was dying. However, I heard the door creak open. I asked Caleb what he was doing and he told me he needed a hat for Pistachio. The door slammed shut, and off he went.

I followed outside a few minutes later and heard the boys in the garage. As I entered the garage, each of my sons eagerly showed me the toy he was making. Caleb said, "We're making toys for sick kids - kids that are in the hospital, and kids that don't have any toys."..."Making toys for sick kids!", Emet returned, as is his custom these days...to repeat everything Caleb says.

Before me sat two pieces of firewood, one with a stocking hat. Each boy showed me the face he had hammered into the firewood. (I couldn't really see any, but I trust they were there - at least in their vivid imaginations!) A proud Mama I was.

Lest you think my children are saints, however, today's story was a bit different. Emet came in screaming from outside telling me Caleb had hit him in the head with Papa's framing hammer! I comforted my youngest, then went outside to talk to Caleb. I explained how hitting someone with a hammer is very dangerous and if you hit them hard enough, you could kill them. (We have to use extremes sometimes to get our point across.) I told him that he had lost privilege of using tools for a long while and would have to discuss the situation with Papa when he got home.

Later that evening, I asked Caleb if he had told Papa about what happened with the hammer. He returned, "You mean when I tried to kill Emet?" :-)