Sweet Memories, Oh so Many Laughs

August 4, 1996: After dinner, Rebecca said, "Mommy, can I show Sarah what pork chops are? She doesn't know." We didn't realize REBECCA knew what pork chops were, but she went and got the "pork chops" --they were chopsticks.

August 9, 1996: Last night Sarah said to me, "Do you know how much I love you? As BIG as the back yard!"

I asked Rebecca to give me a book this morning, and when she handed it to me, she had the attached bookmark hanging out. She said, "Here's your doggy, and here's his chain."

August 12, 1996: A couple times recently Rebecca has admired some clothing of Sarah's. Sarah replies brightly, "When they are too big for me, you can have them, Rebecca."

This evening, Rebecca was trying to twist the stem off of an apple. She was working vigorously, turning again and again, and asked Murray, "Which way do you turn it?"

August 16, 1996: The kids went to VBS at a neighborhood church this week, and they were trying to tell me yesterday how loud the music was. Rebecca said, "Let's say that when a giant talks in a soft voice, it's as loud as when you scream. This music is as loud as the giant screaming."

August 17, 1996: I gave the kids an old mixing bowl to play with. Caleb and Rebecca were pretending they were making a cake. They put a bunch of toys in the bowl, then Rebecca said, "Now, my recipe says, pick it up and shake it!" So she did.

August 18, 1996: Sarah was yelling in the car and Murray was trying to listen to the radio. He finally turned the radio off and said,"Are you done?" Sarah said that she was. Murray asked how he could know she was done. She said, "I'm calming down."

Rebecca was telling on Sarah, and said that "She arched me to go to a place I didn't want to go to." ("urged me")

August 21, 1996: Murray fell off of a stepladder today and was pretty sure he had broken his ankle. As our neighbor took him to the hospital, Rebecca asked Kathy, "Do people die from broken bones?" Kathy assured her that they didn't die, that they might just get a cast. So Rebecca said, "I'm sorry Daddy hurt himself, but it will be very interesting having somebody in our family with a cast."

August 25, 1996: A Bible verse Sarah has memorized says that God saves the crushed in spirit. Last night she was sad and moaning around, and I said I was sorry she wasn't happy. She whispered to me, "I'm crushed in spirit."

When Sarah wants to refer to a little bit of something she says, "A beeney bit."

August 28, 1996: The other day Sarah asked very curiously, "Why doesn't Ping-Hwei like milk? I like milk better than water." We have told her that milk is good for her bones, and she wants to know how the milk gets into her bones. The other day she said she knew how it worked now. She said, "Jesus opens up the bones so the milk can go in, and then He puts them back together again."

September 4, 1996: Last night Rebecca was talking with me about what cats say and what they understand. She asked, "If cats are in China, do they understand what people say to them in Chinese?"

September 9, 1996: This afternoon it was 94 degrees, but this morning, it was 60. Caleb said this morning that he was cold. He said, "I want to wear my mittens."

Sarah knows how to tell if people love Jesus. After our neighbor Terri asked them over to swim in her pool, Sarah said she must love Jesus because she shared her pool with us. When a car stopped for us in a parking lot, she said that person must love Jesus because he didn't run into us.

September 11, 1996: The other day Rebecca asked me what I called the top of a house. I said roof, pronouncing it like boot. She said some people say roof, pronouncing it like book. Caleb said, "I say woof." (He's quite able to pronounce R)

When Sarah is excited about something, like if she finds out she's going to get a surprise, or if she has something she really likes to eat, she often says, "Praise the Lord!"

September 12, 1996: Murray and Sarah went to the Orthopedic Surgeon today, and Murray got a walking cast. Sarah asked him, "How come the doctor just looked and the nurse did all the work?"

Isabella, a little neighbor girl was over to play today. She asked Sarah to tie her shoe, but Sarah told her that she hadn't learned how yet. Sarah brought her in to have me tie her shoe, and Sarah told Isabella, "Blind people can tie shoes."