As many of you know, children here in Brazil have to start school at age two. If this seems young to you you are not alone. I think it is too. But nevertheless, this is the age. One of the joys of our day is going to pick up the girls after their classes. We enter into the school and as we enter, the teacher at the door calls out our children's names. First, comes Becca.
Here she comes running with her back pack the size of a Fiat on her back. She is so excited to see us. Everything is exciting to her. She tells us about how she froze to death in her computer class because the air-conditioning is turned up real high. Her hair, which was immaculate when she left the house this morning, now looks as if she just did a 50 minute Pilates workout in a sauna. (The girls classrooms are all open air and it is hot here in Brazil. The temperature rarely goes below 80 and is always in the 90's during the day.)
Now comes Gabi. Never in a hurry, always deliberate. She comes sauntering down the sidewalk as if their is a prize for going the slowest. She sometimes stops to admire the tropical birds they have in a cage and in the process, creates a log jam of kids on the sidewalk. Most of the kids are not looking where they are going in the first place so there are some collisions.
Both girls are happy to be going home. Filling our ears and anybody else's within ear shot how their day went. Who sat on their foot. Who called them a name. Who gave them a piece of their candy. It is a regular newsbreak right there in the entryway to the school.
I am sitting here trying to think what more could I want as a father. I am hard pressed to think of something. Our daughters are happy to see us. What else is there? They love us and want to be with us. The goal is to keep it that way. When Becca is 16, I do not expect her to run across the school like goofy, jumping into my arms and telling me all about her day. It is the emotion and the love that I want to have.
We are doing our best to see that it stays that way. Praying with them everyday. Reading tons of stories to them at bedtime. (We have read the story Medaline 136 times in the last month.) Taking them for ice-cream. Going to the beach. Time. For the most part, I remember the things my parents DID with me, not the things they said to me. When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, once a month, my dad would take me to lunch at Ponderosa. I remember it like yesterday. I do remember a thing we talked about, just that we did it and I loved it. I know we probably didn't have the money to do it at the time and that just makes it even mopre special to me.
Spend time with your kids. A good friend of mine just recently got a membership to an aquarium for his family. That is what I am talking about. I know this couple will have a daughter that runs to them when she is older.
Pray for us as we try to make time for everything that is calling on us. It is so easy to get busy. It doesn't matter if you are in missions or are working a normal 9 to 5. We so long to be there for them when they need us!
