Ready.....set......CHEESE!!!

I had the sweetest moment with my three little guys tonight.

We were riding in the car, and it was raining pretty hard. All of the sudden it started thundering and lightening. Now, I have to admit. I am a big ole scaredy cat when it comes to thunder and lightening. I do NOT like it. I turn into a petrified 3 year old every time a big storm comes rolling through. It truly makes my heart race and my blood pressure spike. I am sure this has something to do with the fact that a big bolt of lightening struck the transformer right outside of my childhood home when I was in my teens. The whole house shook. The pictures fell off the wall. And I ran the fastest I have ever run in my whole life straight to my sister's bed - which is quite a feat as I am VERY slow. Just ask my mom...my dad...my hubby..... and basically all of my softball teammates from college.

As my mom used to say....when they would time how fast I could run to first base, they used a calendar. :)

But it is not just that I am scared of the lightening or the lightening hitting a tree and making it come through my roof or that it will hit my house and cause it to burn to the ground in a split second like it always does on the cartoons. No...for some reason ALL of my fears come out. I lie in bed wide awake waiting for the big boogie man - you know the one that ONLY comes out during the scariest of storms - to come and get me. And when each lightening bolt brightens my dark room...I scan it quickly to see that "Whew! The boogie man was not there that time."

I mean seriously....do you hear me? I am 36 years old! And this is what goes through my mind.

So....the thunder and lightening are getting worse and I am getting a bit nervous. I am already thinking "Oh no! I will never sleep tonight if it does not let up!" And if you read my post from earlier this morning....you will understand that I REALLY NEED to sleep tonight. I am exhausted!

Well....my boys have inherited my fear of storms. Like me...they are okay with the rain. But as soon as the thunder and lightening start - they begin asking me if they can sleep in my bed. And unbeknownst to them.....I am VERY tempted to say yes. I mean it only makes sense....5 people in a bed are MUCH safer than 2. Right? Surely the 'boogie man that only comes out in horrid storms' would never touch a bed full of 5 people! So I want to scream "YES! YES! You must sleep in my bed and protect me!"

But of course I cannot do that. Because that will only feed their fears.

So I find any rational means possible to explain it away and make them feel better. To let them know that there is NO reason at all to be scared.

Well....once I got this email....you know one of those little emails where you hear a nice little story and it makes you smile. But you know someone completely made it up while eating a greasy burrito during their lunch break?!? Anyway...I got one of those emails... and it talked about a little girl who said that lightening is really God taking your picture.

I liked that. So one day when my boys were really scared during a pretty big storm - I told them the same thing.

So back to tonight. We are riding in the truck and it is raining and lightening. And my boys start talking about how God is taking their pictures. They are so excited that they forget to be scared. And it starts rubbing off on me. So we are all trying to guess when the next "picture" will happen when Conner asks "Mommy...if lightening is when God is taking your picture....then what is thunder?" We all get really quiet and Riley replies "Conner....that is God clapping because he thought you took such a really good picture!"

Aww....that was pretty darn sweet.

So the next thing Conner says is "Mommy...I think God wants us to give him a family picture! So how about we all smile and say "CHEESE" so God can get a really good picture of our family!"

I thought that was a splendid idea.

So we all say "Ready....Set....CHEESE!!!!"

And we all sit there with these HUGE grins on our faces waiting for God to take our picture.

But nothing happens.

So after a few moments, Conner says "I know what we need to do! We need to pray to God and tell him that we really want to give him a good family picture. Then he will know we are ready and he can take it!"

So I glance back to the back seat to see all of my SWEET, ADORABLE little boys sitting in their carseats with their hands clasped together in front of their tiny, cute faces and their eyes shut tight - praying so very hard so God will hear them..... And Conner says "Dear God. We want you to take a picture of our family so you can have it with you in Heaven. But you don't know we are ready. So I wanted to tell you that we are going to smile and say 'cheese' and then you will know to take the picture. Okay? Okay God? So I am going to say 'Ready...set....CHEESE!' and then you take a picture. Okay God....can you hear me? You will take the picture when I say 'Ready....set....CHEESE.' I love you God..Amen."

Then Conner opens his eyes and says "Okay...God is ready and knows to take our picture so everyone smile real big....Okay....so lets say it..."

And we all say..."Ready....Set.....CHEESE!" and we smile the biggest, hugest smiles...

And BAM!!! The biggest brightest lightening bolt all night hit.....and God took our pictures.

Then....a HUGE roll of thunder passed through....

And then Riley said "See! God LOVED our picture! He thinks it is the best family picture!"

What a sweet lesson from my adorable little boys...

My sweet Lord.....you are so amazing......I am in awe of you.....