late night with me

I'm up late... babysitting for my redhaired girls tonight. Mom and dad had an unexpected obligation and I was more than happy to come over and hang out with the girls...

We took my car to fill up with gas and Sarabeth cautioned Jamie not to breathe the fumes "Daddy says that breathing gas will hurt your brain"... I explained that it was called "huffing". I mean... someone has to give them the street names, right?

We went to Subway for sandwiches. Their parents left the standard babysitter fare of hotdogs and mac and cheese but... um... Aunt Heather isn't fond of either and wasn't quite feeling up to smelling hot dogs cooking. My stomach is still a little queasy. Sarabeth thought it was HILARIOUS that I let her wear her pajama pants to Subway. I know... I'm the wild aunt... what can I say?

I love conversations in the car with the girls... Jamie asked what my job is and Sarabeth very adeptly explained what insurance is and how important it is and how even THEY have benefitted from having insurance. Sarabeth even proudly explained that if their mama and daddy die that my company will give them money. Of course... that led into the question of "who will take care of us if something happens to mama and daddy?" I don't know. I told them to ask their parents but I'm sure they have a plan. I explained what a will is...

I know... I'm always the one who ends up in the deep conversations with them. It gets better.

Sarabeth asked, "How did Jorjanne's daddy die?" Um. Well. You see. Jorjanne's dad tragically committed suicide by shooting himself because he had bipolar disorder that was out of control. No, I didn't go there. I said, "I think that's something that you should discuss with Miss Natalie" Jorjanne's mother. She told Jorjanne recently... now that JJ is 9. I'm not sure that it's something that they're ready to discuss with all the little children of the church and I figured Natalie would know better than me how to present that information. It really is her story to tell. I emailed Natalie tonight to let her know the question came up.

Of course... that's not all... Jamie was talking about her little boyfriend and about how one day she wants to grow up and get married and have kids. Sarabeth said she didn't want to get married but she wanted to have kids and the bible says that you shouldn't have kids unless you're married. THEN... they wanted to know how I ended up without a husband so I tried to put things as delicately as possible by saying that my husband didn't want to live the way that God wanted him to live and that I DID want him to live the way that God wanted him to live and that eventually, it got too hard for him to live a way he didn't want to live.

Would it have been better to just say he was a drunk who walked out on me? I don't know.

They didn't even bring up Michael. It's like he never existed, although, truthfully, they spent more time with Michael than they have with my kids' dad. Maybe they get the two confused. I don't know.

Anyways... Jamie got really worried and asked how she would know if the man she wanted to marry had Jesus in his heart and would want to do what God wanted him to. She was almost whining... soooo stressed about this! I told her that we would all help her know. *translation: Aunt Heather will be up in your bidness to the point that no man is getting close to you without passing a 39 point inspection. *

Lord have mercy, I'm tired. It will be midnight before I'm home... thanking God once again for my new glasses.

We got home from Subway and had our dinner out on their deck... walked in the garden... played on the playground... came in and took baths... I taught them how to do Farmville... we laughed, talked, sang, prayed together and I tucked them into bed. They were both sound asleep before 10, not bad considering it's been a long... looooong time since I put anyone to bed.

Now I'm just fighting to stay awake until their parents are home... thank GOD tomorrow is Friday!

Night y'all!