Children have a way of bringing joy to your heart at any time of day. Even in the still of night when they are all in bed, their evidence cannot be erased. Daddy’s boots found in the playroom, a favorite car parked by the couch and a baby toy dropped behind the couch. If children are present, the cleanest of homes bear their mark.
We recently checked out Stone Soup by Pete Seeger from the library. All socialist notions aside, I like that story. And I enjoy Pete Seeger’s musical rendition of it. We have read it and sung it repeatedly. It seems to have made quite an impression on Baby Bear as he chants portions of it throughout the day.
This morning, Baby Bear helped me add vegetables and water to a chicken carcass to make chicken stock. He talked about the story and chanted the parts about the vegetables as we dumped them in the slow cooker. I thought that was it until just a few minutes ago. I just poured the broth through a sieve and amongst the left over bits of chicken and vegetables lay a single stone.
I have no idea when he did it, but he decided we were going to have stone soup. I think I’ll put it back tomorrow when we turn our broth into vegetable soup…and he will have added that key ingredient that any family meal needs to be truly satisfying.
I homeschool my children on a small hobby farm in rural Nebraska and write about life more abundantly, from the joy of a baby's smile to the almost unbearable grief of losing a son while seeking beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3)
Aw! How precious!