Posts Tagged ‘Bryan’

My Baby Dragon

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

my-baby-dragonTen years ago, when my oldest son was only 7 months old, I decided to fly to England with him. I had found a dirt cheap plane ticket. (I think it was only $400 round trip, because it was February, and all the planes were empty. Plus, I stayed with a friend, so lodging was free. She even came to pick me up from the airport.) The baby flew for free, since he was considered a “lap baby.” My husband had to work, and he wanted to hold up his end of the bargain. You see, before we got married, I told him I wanted to live the rest of my life in England. He said, “Choose a state, any state, as long as it’s the United States of America.” I initially chose Texas because my best friend lived there, but after I put him through college, I wanted to find a state that looked more like England. That’s why we live in Washington. But one of my requests before we got married was for him to let me go back to England every once in a while.

I weaned the baby to prepare for the trip; otherwise I would be in pain, since the time difference is so huge. Plus, I didn’t want to nurse the baby in public, and I would be on the plane for 12 hours, making it impossible not to feed the baby while on the plane. The only place for privacy in the airplane is the bathroom, and it’s so tiny and unsanitary (because turbulence causes spills; you can be sure of that!)

my-baby-dragon-2I was going to be gone for 7 days, and I bought baby food jars for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I spread them out on the floor and separated them by days, making sure that the meals were well-balanced. I saw that fruit was represented each day, as well as vegetables, and that the dinner one had enough carbohydrates to enable his stomach to make it to morning time. I wrapped each jar in brown paper, labeling each one with a black Sharpie marker. “Day one: Breakfast: Oatmeal with blueberries.” And so on.

In the airplane, I opened the first jar. A man behind me looked at me in an amused fashion, asking me if he could please show his wife one of my neatly labeled baby food jars. I handed one to him, and the couple had a good laugh. They were obviously not first-time parents like I was. Now, looking back, I could have easily made food in England. Like I could have mashed a banana or whatever. But since I only had one week there, I didn’t want to waste time going to the grocery store.

The baby was sleeping soundly on the airplane, in his carrier by my feet. I was located at the front of the economy section, where there is more leg room. I was so happy because if the baby slept during the entire flight, his body clock would be perfect when we landed. But no… The stewardess forced me to wake up the baby, unstrap him from his carrier, and hold him on my lap. The turbulence was so tiny, I could barely feel it. I begged her to please let my baby sleep, but she didn’t care. As a result, my baby was “off” for days while we were in England, wide awake in the middle of the night. It was a nightmare because of the decision of that stewardess.

I took a backpack carrier and put by baby in there as we walked around London, visiting old haunts. Just seeing England again gave me such a feeling of elation. I feel different when I’m in England, almost like I’m in a fairy tale with castles and thatched cottages in the countryside. It was wonderful, even in my cloudy state of exhaustion due to the baby not sleeping properly.

We went to a castle, and I dressed my son up in the little dragon costume I had brought. I had a picture taken of me in front of the castle, holding my baby dragon.

He Imitated My Spirit

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

conversion-storyWhen my oldest son Bryan was six years old, he asked me what it meant to worship God in spirit and in truth. I tried to explain it, but I was having trouble putting it into words. So I told him to watch me as I sang in spirit and in truth. My children and I started singing a praise song, and Bryan looked at me. Then he continued singing, and I looked into his face. His face looked like the face of an angel; his eyes were pure and he was singing with his heart. I didn’t even know you could teach things like that.

My son would ask me so many questions about God, and I enjoyed answering them. I could tell that his heart was seeking after God. My husband and I read the book The Lamb (by John R. Cross) to my son, and the book clearly explained the gospel. It included a CD and beautiful illustrations explaining how Christ is our lamb, and what it means to need a lamb who can atone for sin. Anyway, we read the book to Bryan two different times so that he had a thorough grasp of what Christ really did for him. We led him to Christ in December 2006. Tears were streaming down my face, and I could feel the presence of the Spirit. I could tell that my husband was all choked up, too, but I’m sure he would never admit it. We had led our own child to the Lord, and it mattered. It meant a lot.

Through the years I have seen a steady growth of character in my son. One time I realized that he stopped asking me about God, and all he wanted to talk about was robots. I was chatting with him one day in a darkened room. I said, “You realize that when you love anything more than you love God, it is idolatry. It is exactly the same as bowing down to a golden cow.” He looked at me, and I could tell by his eyes that he felt convicted. He put the covers over his head and lay there in silence for quite a while. After what seemed like a long time, he had made a decision. “I’ve decided to never play with robots again. I need to get rid of my legos.” He was all choked up. He was only eight years old at the time. He had made his decision. He had crucified his desires and put Christ first no matter what the cost.

I said to him, “Bryan, you don’t need to give up your legos. God has provided legos for our family, and it’s okay to play with them. I just miss talking about God with you. I just felt that your heart was somewhere else.”

He looked relieved. “So I can keep my legos?”

“Of course! God provides all good things for us to enjoy.”

He walked out of the room praising God.