Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/89

Contributor - Joanne Reinsma

Title - Replay

Topic - Children

Jennifer turns a page of her book, but finds it hard to concentrate. The words just don't seem to penetrate her mind. There is too much going on around her and she decides to put the book own beside the telephone in the grass. She stretches lazily on her lounge chair. The sun beats warmly on her body. Spring is in the air for sure. How welcome this season is after the long winter.

She watches a robin feast on the worms in the freshly cultivated soil of the garden in which the first seeds have been planted. A small white butterfly, tired from a tour through the yard, finds rest on a small leaf of a rhubarb plant.

Many different birds form a choir. No director is needed, they sound perfect and harmonious all on their own. Busily they fly back and forth, carrying little twigs and bits of straw to the nests they are building. The large cedar hedge provides single and double dwellings, rent free.

A cardinal checks for danger before flying to his future home. He is putting the finishing touches to it by adding just one or two more pieces of soft string. No help from a home builder is needed, he's doing a superb job all on his own. Jennifer softly quotes a lines from one of her favourite songs..."His eye is on the sparrow..."

Two black squirrels are racing up and down the trees with amazing speed and balance. No net is attached from tree to tree; they just don't fall.

Licorice, the neighbour's cat chases a scared little field mouse. Surprisingly, he loses and has to go somewhere else for his lunch.

There are only five chickens in the run, but they are pretty noisy. They want the world to know that they are doing what is expected of them. Their brown products will help provide a delicious meal.

It's amazing how much there is to see and to enjoy in a backyard, Jennifer muses. Out of a pile of wood, neatly stacked together, a woodchuck pokes his head and checks out the situation around him. There is one animal, Jennifer decides, who doesn't have to work at all to build himself a home. As long as he finds someone who owns a fireplace or a woodstove, he'll be all right.

Such perfect entertainment and it's all free.

Jennifer enjoys fantasizing about the different homes all these animals have. A condominium for the cardinals. A penthouse for the squirrels. A log cabin for the woodchuck. The cedar hedge, of course, represents a high-rise apartment building.

Her eyes wander toward her own house and a warm smile crosses her face. She thinks of the words underneath a picture of a house on the wall in the dining room. 'Bless this house, oh Lord, I pray -Make it safe bv night and day." A prayer well answered, she thought. Kent and I and our three children have surely been kept, safely and we have been richly blessed.

A look at the watch tells her that she has a whole hour yet before she has to take Mrs. Hayes to the doctor. She allows herself to relax. Spring sure is her favourite season. It seems everything is coming alive again. The grass is getting greener everyday. The trees are budding. Tulips and other ear1y spring glowers grace the seemingly dead flower beds. Mothers are taking their toddlers to the park and men are washing their cars in the driveway. No need to go to the car wash anymore now that the cold weather is gone.

Earlier, Jennifer had put a blanket in the grass and brought the box of toys out for the children to play with Randy, the oldest, made a garage out of a ox. His younger brother Jamie took his car there to have it fixed. Randy used some big words to impress Jamie, but when the problem was solved, (a new motor was put in), Jamie complained that Randy over-charged him. Jennifer smiled, knowing that children often imitate their parents.

Little Kenny watches all the commotion from his playpen. It's a safe place to be. His two "big" brothers often play house and Kenny makes a good baby.

Randy and Jamie are now pretending to be carpenters and are busy with their tools and building blocks. On the picnic table are three lunch bags. Jennifer has told the boys that when she blows a whistle, it is lunch time, just like at the factory where Daddy works.

After a while, two of the neighbour's girls join the boys. They bring their dolls and carriages. A nice change from an all-boys household, yet Randy and Jamie say that they don't want to play with girl's stuff.

When the lunches have been eaten and shared with the girls, it's time to play a game of Snakes and Ladders. Bur now Jennifer has to join them; it's more fun when Mom plays too.

Snakes and Ladders seems to be one of the children's favourite games, Jennifer finds, as she watches their faces and hears their comments. Oh sure, it's fun to go up the ladders but how frustrating it is to have to slide down the snakes and start all over again. Well, it's a good way to learn to be gracious losers.

Sitting down too long is hard for the children, and the boys have decided to take their bikes out of the garage. Jamie is not in the least embarrassed about the training wheels on his. He proudly tells the girls that his is- "the bestest and the-fastest biker in the whole wide world"

Randy's two wheeler needs polishing first, before he will take it for a ride. For his last birthday, his Dad and Mom bought him a bell for his bike and he is now showing it to the girls. "See how it shines? I can even see myself."

The girls are impressed and ask if it works too. "Can you make it ring? Real loud?" Can He? this is the moment Randy has been waiting for and now starts ringing the bell. It rings and rings and rings...

... Jennifer picks up the receiver. A little boy on the other end of the line asks, "Grandma, may I come to your house and play Snakes and Ladders with you?"

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