Forget not what?

This week's curriculum has us studying the elephant. The elephant is said to have a good memory.

The Bible verse this week is Psalm 103:2 , which says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

Joel was reading it aloud for the first time, and out tumbled these words:

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His elephants."

Ice Cream Cone

By 5 pm, Joel was my only kid home this Friday. Ben was snowboarding, Sarah was at work, Stephen was staying over at Eric's.

I felt like treating Joel to something special.

"How about ice cream?" he said, as we drove a familiar route to Broom's Blooms Dairy.
He was thrilled. Ice cream BEFORE dinner! But as we drove , he kept getting sleepier, and I kept asking, "you want to go home instead?" He kept saying no.

We pulled into the lot and I said, "Do you still want me to get you an ice cream cone?"

"I want the ice cream, too!" he said.

Foreigner

While we were eating ice cream I asked Joel to tell me some of his favorite memories. I used prompts. What's your favorite memory about....a dog? He said, "Lady." (Our previous dog.) I said, "Joel, you can't remember her. She died when you were just 8 months old.

"Oh." (Takes another lick of the ice cream.")

"What is your favorite memory of a foreigner?" I asked.

"What's a foreigner?" he asked.

I was too tired to give a precise answer, so out came a lazy one. "A foreigner is someone not from around here," I said.

"Oh, I know! That kid from New Hamster!"

OMBG

Joel was tattling on someone for using the Lord's name in vain.
Pointing his index finger heavenward, "Mom, he said 'oh my Big Guy.'"

New Hamster

Sarah left Friday to visit her friend Leslie in New Hampshire.

Joel couldn't get the name right. He kept saying "New Hamster."

"Are you gonna bring me a new hamster?" he'd ask.

"No, but I can send you a postcard."

"Of a new hamster?"

It wouldn't surprise me if Sarah came home with a fake hamster for her little brother.