Mmmm….. meatloaf man
So, as I’m writing this post, I’m thinking about my kids. They bring life to everything I do, and a huge smile too. As I was tediously getting ready to cook dinner tonight I decided to make my old standby, meatloaf. Olivia, always wanting to help in the kitchen, is asking what we’re having and what she can do to help. “OK Olivia”, I say ” why don’t you break up the bread into little pieces and throw it in with the meat” As she’s carefully doing her job, she’s turns to me and says, “Hey mom, one time, on that show with the Simpson’s on it, Bart’s mom made meatloaf in the shape of gingerbread man cookies, and when she handed Bart the plate he said ‘mmmm……meatloaf man’, can we do that?” In my head I was thinking, no Olivia, we’re just making dinner and we’re not going to do anything fun or interesting, because that’s only for special occasions, or holiday’s or things like that. But instead, contrary to my unfun self, I said sure, let’s try it! And sure enough, meatloaf man turned out just fine. We kept checking on him as he cooked to make sure he didn’t move or change his shape, but he cooperated wonderfully. The girls ate the legs, the boy’s the arms, and so on. As we were sitting and eating at the table, Olivia asked me a question. “Mom, what’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten?” Hmm, I was about to say that it was my kid’s and family. With a smile she said, “God”. Eden pipes up quickly, “I know the next best gift!” Oh, she’s got to say family, or maybe a unicorn or something! “You know what it is mom? It’s Jesus.” Sigh……My kids remember better than I that more than anything here on earth, we’ve already received the greatest gift possible in Christ. It was a great day. Thank you meatloaf man and Marg Simpson.
That was a very touching post. Emi is always the one in our family who remembers to pray for our meals. Sometimes I’m just so happy that we’re all sitting down and dinner’s actually ready that I forget. It’s hard to be a mom sometimes!
I have to add a story from my childhood. When I was about four, we were having dinner as a family and I kept spilling food and eating messily and finally my Dad turned to me and asked, “Were you born in a barn?” (he’s from Indiana) and I smiled innocently and said, “No, but I know someone who was”. My dad was surprised by my answer so he asked me who and I said “Jesus!”. I guess that kind of broke the tension! My dad loves that story.
Love it…..I think we might have ourselves a little meatloaf man for dinner tonight!!