a stupid grin goes a long way

...tonight, David and Megan shut us out of his bedroom with a stern warning in the form of a note from George Bush on the door that read, "Daddy and Moma DO NOT ENTER Constricon in Progres, Sincerly, G.W.B." David sported his best Secret Service attitude (complete with glasses) and little Meg was giggle-goofy-serious, trying not to give away the surprise.

"We're pretending to be cooks..." David later said while he fumbled the strings to a decorate-it-yourself apron (still blank).

Megan, her little squinchy eyes poking out a crack in the door, squeaked a high-pitched and dimpled, "We're gonna pretend to make a cake... "

And so they "pretend[ed] to make a cake"...really...it must have been pretend since it didn't come out so well.

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Tonight was my night to cook, since Marcia has school on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I didn't feel like cooking anything (even with the microwave), and was procrastinating with thoughts of cereal, but eventually settled on a little breakfast inversion--waffles (yeah baby).

Meanwhile, Meg, being the "little mother" that she is, was eager to offer her services.

"I'll cook somethin', Daddy." She happily offered, to which Marcia made an unpleasant face. Her displeasure, while not wholly unjustified, was fortunately obscured to our little Rachel Ray by the basket of clean and wrinkly clothes yet to make it into their respective drawers.

You see, Meg has an Easy Bake...a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law that doesn't seem to bring quite so many smiles as promised on the box (What the heck is that little girl smiling about??? Oh, RIIIIGHT, I know that cake didn't come outta that thing...). Even adult supervision and strict adherence to the instructions can't seem to make this stuff taste like the picture on the wrappers.

So far, she's made french fries, pizza, pasta, and now a cake, none of which really tasted much better than an expired MRE. Tonight's cakes, to the shagrin of my unpampered chefs, were a flop. The first one was apparently supposed to be of the two layer variety, but ended up a two pile instead. The second one, from the frustrated report of my son, "turned into water" (it's true, I found it still in the mixing bowl). The results were not for lack of effort, however, as evidenced by the pile of empty wrappers and chocolate stained bowls. The measuring cups, still showing traces of the ill-fated ingredients, were carefully propped up to prevent them from touching the carpet. The oven was in the middle of the floor with table lamps on either side (the lamps, I assume, were to provide a low-level lighting effect to help conceal their operation from us). All in all, quite a production.

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There is one recipe that happens to come out perfectly every time--it's the one that results in an unbreakable smile and a sense of wonderful bigness in the heart of my little girl.

Even now, as I struggle to keep my eyes open, the warmth of those moments kindles something inside that is difficult to put words to. I take such pleasure in never refusing to heartily devour her masterpieces no matter how bland the taste or "interesting" the texture.

Tuesday it was a batch of spiral noodles. The sauce mix turned out to be a little outdated and chunky, so we opted to use the other half of the requirement, ketchup. It wasn't really all bad, just not "MMM," but the little white lie that I told with my stupid grin and full-mouthed "MMM" was well worth it.

---And you can bet I'll be smiling proudly through many, many more of Meg's meals in the years to come. After all, one of these days she'll be cooking for someone else...

Thank you, wonderful Lord, for giving me the opportunity to spend these last 10 and 7 years reponsible for your little sheep. Thank you for the amazing gifts that they are and have been. Every day is another gift, another measure of your grace.

Please give me the wisdom to lead them....Please give me the courage to be selfless...Please give me the perseverance to never forsake my duty to them in You.

Thank you Father. In Jesus' name...