Nehemiah son of Hacaliah

Veggie Tales did a spoof of "Lord of the Rings." It's called "Lord of the Beans."
One character (who is a spinoff of Gandolph) is named Randolph. He always introduces himself as "Randolph, son of Mandolph."

To Joel, that is really funny.

The other morning, he crawled into my lap just as I was starting to read Nehemiah chapter 1. I said, "Joel, do you want me to read out loud, or do you want to go in the other room and play? This is my time with Jesus,"

He paused and thought about it. "Read out loud to me, please."

I started in. When I got to "Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah." he cackled.

"Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah. That's funny. That's not really what it says."

"Yes, it is, " and proved it to him (as if he can read).

Then he scrunched up his little nose and said, "I'm Small Son of Paul."

"Yes, you are." Witty boy.

"And Ben, " he added, mentioning his 6'6" brother, " is Tall Son of Paul."

Human Juke Box

A few days I was snuggling with Joel at naptime. We were practically nose-to-nose trying to get warm.

He says, "Mommy, pick a number."

I said, "Okay...seven."

He started singing, "You are holy...."


Then he said, "Pick another number!"

"Thirteen," I said, wondering which song I had just picked.

He started in with gusto, "Bwessed be de name of the Lord...bweesed be Your gwoooreeous Name..."

"Pick anoother one!" he urged.

"Allright, how about six?"

"A, b, c, d, e, uff, zhee..."

""Joel, you know what you are? A human juke box!" I said.

"Yup, that's me," he agreed, "a human joke box."

Singing About Underwear

Joel sings as much as some people talk. It seems every phrase he hears reminds him of a song. I love this about him. (I prayed for a musician when he was in the womb, and God has given him a pleasant voice, great rhythm, and a memory for songs to beat the band (okay, a musical cliche).

In our church we sing a song that goes, "Wonderful, so wonderful...)"

I can't remember the rest.

Joel was going to the bathroom today (pardon me for putting this is such a context, but it's true), and when he was finished I heard him singing, "Underwear, so underful...."

Art History Paper Starts out Corny

As much as my kids rib me for being so corny, it rubs off of them. I saw a classic example today in my son Stephen's essay on the Renaissance painter El Greco. He was having trouble coming up with a thesis statement. By way of reminder from last year (and the year before....we've homeschooled now for 13), I told him to pick three elements common to El Greco's paintings and discuss them in a two-to-three page paper.

He chose use of color (vibrant colors "pop" against a black background), elongation (the human and angelic figures are really long and leggy)), and
the use of space (which El Greco crammed with figures of people).

Stephen has a congenital sense of humor. He has also ingested a lot of corn, as confirmed in his writing. I think his case is incurable, and its only treatment is just to laugh and let it run its course. (He also knows he can get a rise out of me by putting an adjective in front of the word unique. My pet peeve.)

Here was his opening paragraph:


El Greco was one of the most unique painters of the Renaissance era. He used

color like no other, set elongation as a foundation, and filled empty spaces with some

faces.

What Do You Want to Be?

I asked Joel tonight, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

He said, "Four."