Family Night

Bryan's aunt and uncle are in town from Pennsylvania, so tonight we had family night. Almost everyone participated (cousins, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc.) so there were probably 20 to 25 of us. Most of the family met at Silver Bay for dinner followed by bowling. Bryan and I joined them at the bowling alley due to my body's severe aversion to seafood.

We took up four lanes at the bowling alley with one of them being bumper bowling for the little ones. We had 5 girls bowling on that lane with a baby brother simply watching. It was so funny to watch these girls. The tiniest of the girls was little Jessica who probably weighs 20 pounds soaking wet. To see her carrying that 6 or 7 pound ball was amazing. She was so proud of herself for hauling that thing all the way to the lane. When she would plop the ball down, it would barely roll. More than once it literally didn't roll. The first time her ball stopped mid lane, I was convinced that I would save the day and bump her ball with another ball. Boy, that was a bad idea!

I totally missed!!! I felt better when my bother-in-law missed also. This was the first of two trips that the maintenance man made to save her stranded ball. More than once Jessica tried to bowl on our lane instead of her own. Everyone was getting a little nervous due to her impeccable timing. Each time she tried to use the wrong lane someone was playing for a spare. She was totally clueless about her mistake. The second time, I pointed out the bumpers to her and told her that they would help her ball stay of track and knock the pins down. If she would look for the bumpers she would know she was in the right lane.

Isn't it funny how God does that for us. He puts bumpers (guardrails) in our path everyday. If we will just stay between those rails, we will have a much greater chance of hitting the target. Those boundaries protect us just like those guards guide the ball. Sometimes, we just need someone to point the boundaries out to us. Why is it that we get so bent out of shape when we are given boundaries? We get even more bent out of shape when we have to try again. Our childlike faith should push us to try again, to seek out the excitement of a new experiences.

Each time Jessica got up she was so excited. She didn't care that she only hit one pin or that she hit 5 or 6, or even none. Her exuberance never changed. As the night went on, she got some coaching and figured out how to roll the ball rather than her original throw and plop technique. She got much better results! She was sure that it was great no matter what she did. Oh to have childlike faith and wonder!

Kids never cease to amaze me and teach me more than I could ever teach them. And they say the craziest (and sometimes most inappropriate) things. Take for instance my niece tonight. Gailey greeted my sister-in-law with this, "Linda, did you know I had diarrhea today?"

I Love Kids!