Getting to know you

My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. (James 1:19, NLT)

As we explored the "other" coast these past couple weeks, we got to know our kids a lot better. We are raising three very unique young people -- affectionately called "city mouse," "country mouse," and "princess."

City Mouse loves the convenience and chaos of city life. Car noise, hustling people, restaurants, shopping, lights -- all these things rev him up. He had a blast in San Francisco!

Country Mouse loves to climb and run. The more rocks, trees and open space, the better. He suffocates in a city, visibly wilting as the day goes on. All that city noise wears him down. Yosemite, though, he could live there forever!

Princess is happy anywhere, as long as she gets lots of attention. No surprise, her favorite vacation moments included dressing up and doing her hair. Those nights when I dusted her eyelids with a subtle, golden eye shadow, she just glowed. It had absolutely nothing to do with the nearly invisible eye shadow. She simply loved dressing up!

We already knew this about our kids. On vacation we really focused on them -- quicker to listen and less inclined to preach at them (James 1:19). Without cell phones buzzing or emails pinging, we weren't distracted. The TV didn't blare in the background like it too often does at home.

Without the distractions, we fell easily into spontaneous conversations about whatever was on our kids' minds at any given moment. They asked a ton of questions: "Who is your best friend?" (more on that next week). "When you were a kid...." "What if you were locked up in Alcatraz? Would you survive it?" (Uhhhh, NO! That's why I'm a law abiding citizen!!!) "Would you rather...."

We didn't bring home much in the way of souvenirs. We brought home something so much better.

• If you take a picture of us and my daughter says, "Tequila!" expect us all to crack up. We didn't drink it... but we sure did laugh about it. 
• We encouraged each other up the mountain and through the zipline -- so expect to hear us cheering even louder for one another when it's needed (as if we weren't obnoxious before). 
• "Poke!" This is annoying kid stuff, but it's likely to happen in the presence of others... and it has nothing to do with facebook. Just put up with us, please.
• "Bears are stupid. Look at Pooh!" It's part of our family language now.

There's more, but you get the idea. Put away that phone. Turn off the TV. Live. Savor the gift of family!