Last weekend we tried out the new pizza place in Trafalgar. I didn't take much for the girls to play with since I figured we wouldn't have to wait long--it's Trafalgar after all, how many people in a town this big could order pizza at one time? The answer, of course, is just about every single person in town. Also, it's mainly a pick-up place. They have seats, but your best bet is to order ahead and then get there, wait in line 20 minutes, get your pizza 20 minutes after it's done, and take it home to eat. There was a steady line about 8-10 people long waiting for their orders. But the pizza was good. Anyway, that's beside the point. While we were there, Hannah randomly asks, "How did your babies come out of your belly?" Luckily in my case I have an easy answer to that question. I said, "They cut a hole in my belly, get the baby out, and close it up." She jokingly said, "Well, how do they close it up, cause they don't sew it." "Actually, they do," I answered. Then she said really loud, "OH! I AM NOT HAVING ANY BABIES! I DO NOT WANT THEM TO SEW ON ME!" Alli said, "While I was in your belly, I didn't cry did I. No, I was a good baby."
Hannah's been learning to read at home. She can sound out some words and she can read some words, so I decided to get some early reader books from the library and give her the satisfaction of reading an entire book. She likes it, but it's amazing how many exceptions there are in our language. I have to keep saying, "These letters together say "___", but a few words later those same letters say something completely different. Anyway, she told me her thoat hurt and was saying, "O-U! O-U! Get it Mom? Ow?"
Alli twists her hair and sucks her thumb just like Hannah. But Alli takes a smaller piece of hair and twists it so tight that it gets in knots. Yesterday she woke up from her nap and looked like she had five little antennae sticking out of her head because she twists and twists and then folds it over and it twists onto itself and then twists again. Kinda like miniature dreadlocks.
Carrie can be jealous and bossy at times with her sisters. I've been watching a little three year old, Anna Beth, four days a week and that brings out the jealousy even more. When Anna Beth walks in the door, Carrie immediately says, "A-Besh! Sh! Shh! Stop!" as if she's already getting into "Carrie's things." She's a sweet girl, though and is easy to take care of.
Today we woke up to a little layer of snow covering the ground. I thought it would be fun for the girls to play in it. So I helped them get dressed. That took about half an hour. Hannah dressed herself and was waiting to go outside patiently, but I knew that by the time I got the others dressed she would be ready to come in so I made her wait for everyone together. Carrie cried for most of that half hour because she didn't want her boots on. I should have left them off anyway cause she didn't like the cold and cried when I took her out there. Would have saved myself one dose of the crying if I had let her go out there barefooted instead of fussing over the boots since she cried anyway when we got out there. Anyway...they liked it kindof. They played for about 20 minutes. Pretty good I thought, and no one had to come in to go potty! Yay! But that was at 8:25 this morning, so we had a long morning to fill with indoor playing and crafts. We made turkeys and glued on tissue paper tail feathers.
I've been going to the Morgan County Jail to help a friend teach Bible study two Thursdays a month. I love it! The girls there are just soaking it all up. Nine of them accepted Jesus and were baptized a couple weeks before I started. They baptized them in a livestock water trough. They are so desparate for a Savior. Most of them I think are in for drugs/alcohol (but I don't know for sure), and I was saying to Mike the other day that it is only by the grace of God that we aren't there in their place. Many of them had decent lives, but just got caught up in something. Some grew up in Christian homes, one planned on going into the ministry, one has a son who is an intern for John McCain, etc. Basically, many of them are just normal average people like us, and we have been protected from all that. Anyway, it's so encouraging to see these girls (most of them are younger than me!) who are "safe" from all those influences, they are clean and sober, and they are at the end of their rope and they are ready for a change. Not every female inmate comes to Bible study, sometimes 2/3 of them, usually 1/2. I expected that they would be skeptical, just wanting an evening out of their cells, but they are interested, they ask questions, they write down any scripture reference we make so they can look it up in their free time, they memorize verses to earn a Bible--and they are so thrilled to receive it! It's not prison, it's just the county jail. So, they might be held waiting for their sentence, etc. Anyway, they are typically there one year or less, so they are coming back out into the community and going to need to be welcomed into a church family and helped along in their faith. They are going to need to be strong to resist the same old influences, they are going to need to make a serious change in order to not be back in jail again. Most of them have kids, many of them young kids like mine. Some of them don't know where they are, just that they are in the foster system, but they don't have contact with them. Who knows what their foster parents are telling the kids about their mom? I admit I would have been one to say, "They should have loved their kids enough to stop whatever they were doing." But drugs don't say that, and if no one else in their life was a positive influence... And really it doesn't matter now, what matters is that these girls change their lives so that it won't happen again. They are so sad to be separated from their kids, and maybe that's punishment enough. When they get out, they need to make strong connections in a church that will support them and accept them and help them. Trish and I are the only women's Bible study, there are at least 3 men's Bible studies. So there is room for more as the jail staff is open to it. Right now we can only go twice a month, but pray that we will be allowed to go every week and that we would be allowed to have one-on-one discussions with the girls too. So pray for these girls. And maybe your county jail needs a Bible study. okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.
