A few months ago, my son proudly brought home this little cup of soil with a tiny, sad looking lima bean peeking from the surface. Oh, if I could only count the many, MANY projects like this! My kids get the best teachers... creative, fun, eccentric, and endearing...
...Phasing back to a time long, long ago...
My oldest child was attending VBS, which is an event all on its own. At the end of our tiring week, his teacher decided it would be really cool to send the kids home with a very special gift... goldfish! No, it did not occur to our well-intended friend to ask the parents if this would be okay. She, of her own accord, went to WalMart and purchased, of her own budget, two goldfish for each student in her VBS class. I was less than enthusiastic. We've already discussed my appreciation (or lack thereof) for pets. My son was very young, and we had not yet experienced the joy of owning a pet... or LOSING a pet. And as we all know, goldfish do NOT last long! I so did not want his little heart to be broken. So, as any caring mother would, I pondered for awhile and decided to figure out a way to make this work. I had every conviction in my soul that those two goldfish would die as soon as I brought them home. I knew NOTHING about taking care of fish! I convinced my son (who was probably 4 years old at the time) that it would be better if we traded his goldfish for a healthy fish that would live longer. By all means, if we were going to do this, we might as well do it right! I did a little research, went back to the store, and traded our goldfish for a sturdy, healthy, beta. My son and I excitedly brought home our new family member, prepared his tank with beautiful water and carefully chosen rocks and plants, fed him regularly... we did everything right, or so I thought... and the fish died less than a week later. So much for sturdy. I don't remember how many of those silly things we went through before one actually lasted longer than a month. To this day, we have fish tanks in the rooms of my kids, and we cycle through our betas regularly (however, I have figured out how to keep them alive longer than a week... believe it or not.) Here I go again, completely off topic. So... the lima bean plant...
This miniature-sized, plastic cup of dirt sat on my window sill for several days... even weeks!... before I decided I should just throw it away. I was fairly certain my son had forgotten all about it. But my husband rescued the baby plant, and asked me to allow him to give it a try. Well, you see that his TLC has paid off. My son is now very proud of his lima bean (which, incidentally, no one in this house will ever eat), and there's no way I can get rid of it now without him noticing! :( I wonder if it will actually grow a bean?!
I should also make a note that the same teacher who gave him this lima bean plant also sent her Sunday school class hand written Valentines along with coloring pages and special stickers IN THE MAIL! Oh, he certainly loved that!!! Make no mistake, I am greatly thankful for the special gifts God gives these sweet people who teach my children. They don't have to do what they do, and anyone who makes one of my children feel special is pretty special themselves in my book. :)
Image by Laura Ketteman
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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there is a special place in heaven for Sunday school teachers, especially ones that go above and beyond the "call of duty".
ReplyDeleteWe also received one of those fish at that same VBS (I'm thinking Kaitlyn and Travis were in the same class)...ours lived for 3 years...maybe you should've stuck with the goldfish. :)
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