Meerkat

Eldin has reached that age where he is trying to figure out possession (or he is trying to take over the world by claiming it is all his). During this time in his life he has expressed recently the following phrases:

My Kids
My Park
My House

While we are trying to teach Eldin about sharing and that some things in this world are not his, I realized that he is also learning community. SO, it came as no surprise to me that our life seems like Meerkats (minus the digging tunnels in the ground. Although sometimes you wouldn't think that by how dirty my sons are).

-A Meerkat community is called a mob or gang - "My Kids"
-Meerkats are extremely social animals (have you met my son Eldin?).
-Observing Meerkats is a wonderful experience (I'm sure observing my life is sometimes better than living it, if nothing else it would be more humorous).
-They love grooming one another, wrestling and playing with one other. (My sons are some of the very few boys in Searcy, so most of the families we hang out with have daughters - they play dress up and Eldin plays a dragon that chases the princesses and takes on the castle).
-They have avid curiosities and can make a toy of almost anything (thankful and unfortunately that describes my kids and our friends).
-Even with all this play, Meerkats do not ignore the need for security. One Meerkat always seems to be a sentry and stands guard to keep the gang safe. (This is a perfect description of the parents in different ways:
1.Moms: Our primary sentry duties entail the safety of the children from themselves (falling, hitting into objects, swallowing anything we don't want, etc)
2.Dads: Their primary sentry duties are default to the outward life to the entire family "gang"
(sometimes the Mom Sentry forgets that the Dads are sentries also, because they can feel as if the dads are adding to/creating some of the safety concerns on the MS radar)
-Meerkats constantly communicate with one another in three different ways:
scent (the primary thought that comes to my mind is dirty diapers)
sound (The Mom Call/Tone)
body language (The Look - you know what I'm talking about, the one we all hope as new parents we can pull off that put the fear of God in us as kids from our parents).
-One last interesting point, sound can be broken up into one, two, three, and even four syllable calls. (Mom Calls usually are short & with one word, even through it carries the entire weight of the human language, so you are warned that you definitely don't want that lecture).

The pictures above are from December when 3 families got together to take a horse carriage ride downtown. I was touched and joyfully blessed when I realized the gift that God had provided us with in our friends. He instructs us on the importance of community and so I shouldn't be surprised when He provides.

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

I am so thankful that my parents taught me, and more importantly, showed me how to live a God-filled life. This includes the previously mentioned "The Look". Now it is my responsibility to teach and live a life that our children will know is the Truth and to become a community with others as a body of Christ. Currently this takes the form of a Meerkat Community.