Inauguration Day

We made it.

We survived the two snow/cold days as well as the three-day weekend thrown in. We did not leave the house from Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. until Sunday morning to go to church. That, my friends, was a long, long time.

Yesterday I took Elaine to her 3-year checkup. She's healthy and happy and growing--official diagnosis. That's always good to hear. She took an eye test for the first time as well. She was a little confused as to what some of the pictures were, but she did just fine.

Then we headed to my parents' for lunch and tea. I spent the afternoon talking to my mom while I let the girls bundle up in blankets and watch movies. "Shouldn't I take them outside?" asked my mom. "Shouldn't I be reading to them or something?"

"They're FINE," I answered. "They're peaceful." Apparently enough time has passed since she had little kids that she's got the Mom guilt thing going again.

Lucy and I have had some good talks during these days about Martin Luther King and what he did for our country. Fortunately, these talks are going better than the one from last year. We talked about our friends who have skin darker than ours and how in older days, they would have had to ride in different parts of the bus and drink at different drinking fountains. Lucy had never heard this before, and to see her incredulous face when I told her about...it makes you wonder how that ever happened in the first place.

Then we talked about the new president we'll be getting today and what an historic event it is, especially happening right at Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. How this is the first time ever our country has had a president with dark skin.

On Friday night Lucy came downstairs after she was supposed to be in bed, and I was watching TV. Confession: I wasn't watching CNN or Meet the Press or McNeil/Lehrer or anything like that. I was watching Check, Please!--the local show where three ordinary citizens recommend restaurants around the city and then try them. This was a never-before-seen episode from 2001, and one of the ordinary citizens was freshman senator, Barack Obama.

"Can I watch a little bit with you, Mom?" Lucy asked. I figured this just squeaked in as educational, so we watched together. Lucy loves food and cooking shows anyway. (In case you're wondering, Barack Obama recommended Dixie's Kitchen and Bait Shop.)

Then next morning I overheard her talking to Elaine.

"Mama let me stay up and watch Rocko Bama on TV," she said.

"You saw Rocko?" Elaine asked.

"Rocko BAMA. He's going to be our new president," Lucy said importantly.

"When do we open him?" Elaine replied.

"Not our PRESENT, you silly. Our prez-i-dent," said Lucy.

This morning before school (school! Oh, how I love and miss you! How glad I am you are back in session!) Lucy and I sat in the rocking chair as we do every morning and prayed together. We prayed for her because she's sad today--Bananas the Monkey has to go back to kindergarten. We prayed for Mrs. Blevins and Mrs. Clark and the other students.

And then we prayed for Mr. Rocko Bama. We thought he must be a little scared today, becoming president and having such a big responsibility. We prayed that he would be a good listener. We prayed that he would only help people and never hurt anyone. We prayed that he would do the right thing and not the wrong thing.

I want to teach the girls early that we need to pray for those who are in leadership.

Hopefully the Lord knows who we're talking about.