Do You Have Any References?

I've got a couple more stories from our trip to the Lone Star State and then maybe I'll move on to other things (I know, you're already ready for us to get this move over with so I'll shut up about Texas!):

On Sunday afternoon in Arlington, one of the families from WW offered to take the kids for the afternoon so they would have something to do while Randy and I met with the elders and their wives. To the best of my recollection, I had not yet met Rick and Tracy until that afternoon, although I met their 11-year-old son, Brennan, during the worship hour when he came over and introduced himself to Tyler and offered to show him where their Bible class was. After lunch, Rick and Tracy (Hi, y'all!) came over to meet us and to collect Sawyer for the afternoon. They may remember this story differently but this is exactly how it played out to me:

Sawyer: "Do you have a truck? My dad used to have a truck. It was gray--well, silver."

I think he prattled on for a minute or two about his love of trucks--I know it had to have come up at some point because he discovered that Rick is a fire fighter and they became FAST friends! He went on:

Sawyer: "Do you have any kids?"
Tracy: "Yes, I have two daughters and a son."
Sawyer, cocking his head to the side: "Uh-huh. And how old are they?"

Tracy, do you remember that? I couldn't help thinking in that moment, "What is this three-year-old doing grilling this woman about her family as though she has to meet some unspoken expectation before he deems her a fit guardian for the afternoon?" Fortunately, the Spear family passed the test and they went on their merry way.

They were so merry, in fact, that I thought we were going to have to leave Tyler in Arlington and fly home without him! He and Brennan really hit it off and Tyler had no use for us once he discovered that Brennan has a love of video games equal to his own!
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Okay, last story. We were invited to Morris and Bonnie Cochrum's home on Saturday evening following our afternoon question-and-answer session. After mentioning to them that I was thinking about taking the kids back to the hotel for a quick swim in what had to be the world's smallest hotel swimming pool, Bonnie graciously invited us to come to their home a little earlier than planned so the kids could swim in a REAL pool! Well, we couldn't turn that invitation down (especially since the kids had taken their swim stuff to their host family's home that afternoon just in case THEY had a pool), so off we went.

I have probably mentioned this before, but unfortunately since we are not members of the local YMCA, we have had to rely on the Big Splash for swim lessons and they do not offer instruction to children under the age of five; therefore, Sawyer has never had any formal instruction (not that that's ever stopped him). So, it was kind of tricky at the Cochrum's pool because they had several large steps leading into the pool and then it got rather deep fairly quickly. Morris and Bonnie cautioned me but I assured them it would be fine, as Sawyer could simply stay near the steps or hang onto the side like he has done in other deep pools. Yeah, right.

It became apparent very quickly that the steps weren't going to be enough for Sawyer, especially considering all the neat floats and other swim toys that were floating around in the pool! Now I am not a "helicopter-mom" who hovers around her children, and I don't typically panic about my kids' safety, but Sawyer has no fear when it comes to water (or anything else, it seems) and I couldn't help but keep a much closer watch on him than usual. It was a good thing. I had just been telling Morris a story from our trip to TX last summer when Rebecca (my sister-in-law) jumped into Brian and Jamie's pool fully clothed because she feared that Sawyer was drowning. And I barely had the words out of my mouth when I went back to watching Sawyer, who was dutifully hanging on to the side of the pool over in the deep end, when I realized just what he was doing in the deep end. He had made his way over there to snag a pool float, and he momentarily forgot that if he let go of the side, his feet were NOT going to touch the bottom like they usually do at the Big Splash. He grasped the float in his arms and . . . down, down, down he went. Can you say "deja vu"? Thankfully, he was close enough to the side that I was able to get down on my stomach and reach him without jumping in entirely. I must say, after that little episode he was content to get out of the pool, and that was just fine with me--my nerves couldn't take it anymore!
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I know, I know, I said that was my last story, but this one sort of goes along with the last one!

On Sunday night, we went back over to Morris and Bonnie's house and several couples from the church came as well, including the family with whom the kids had spent the day on Saturday. This time, instead of there being a boy Tyler's age, there was a girl, Kirsten, who is eight. Peyton is seven, Darcy is nine--need I say more? They were like peas in a pod. So after we'd eaten and visited for quite a while, we decided we'd better pack it in and I went to tell the kids it was time to go. When I went into the play room to round everyone up, Darcy said, "Mom, can't we stay in Texas just one more week?" I said, "Darcy, we have plane tickets to fly home on Wednesday--we can't stay any longer." Then I instructed the kids to start putting toys away. Darcy picked up a game and was putting it away in the closet while she asked, "You mean they didn't hire Dad?" At that moment Bonnie, the elder's wife, walked in and I laughed and said, "Bonnie, would you like to field that one?!" Her kids had once put her in a similarly awkward situation when their dad was looking for a new job, so she just laughed along with me. Whew!