This is mostly so we don’t forget them.
Katy was talking about knocking on doors and ringing doorbells and so on and said when the postman comes he’d just go “RRIIINNNNGG RRIIINNNNGG RRIIINNNNGG!”. K said “What, make the noise with his mouth?” (like Katy had just done) :). I can just imagine our postman standing on our doorstep with a parcel in his hand, not knocking on the door or pressing the doorbell, but saying “RRIIINNNNGG RRIIINNNNGG RRIIINNNNGG!” in a loud voice. Then moving along to next door and repeating it…
One Sunday recently we succumbed to the gorgeous smell of curry from the restaurant next door but one to our church and went there for lunch. The children were all a joy to be with – they tried all the food (although we limited ourselves to things we thought they’d like) and behaved very well and also seemed to be enjoying themselves and interested in the pictures on the walls. There was a lady sat near us having her lunch and as we left she commented on the children to Katy. As we were walking down the road afterwards, Katy said “The lady said to me ‘You have the most delightful children.'” (or something like that). K said “Don’t worry Daddy, I think she meant your children too!
This morning the boys had got dressed without any encouragement from me, which was nice. As they finished breakfast J said “I’m dressed!”. K said “Me too!” L said “I dressed too!” Being a boring parent, worried about the literal truth of things rather than seeing the Big Picture I said “No L, you’re completely naked.” She said “I wearing my plaster!” – which is true, she has a lovely pink plaster on that she got yesterday, so she wasn’t completely naked.
In case you’re wondering, the title comes from the Bible, either Psalm 8 or, when Jesus quotes the Psalm, from Matthew chapter 21, verse 16, except you’d need to pick a different translation to get those exact words – NIV uses “babes and children” and the King James uses “babes and sucklings” 🙂
I like the idea that BB is a suckling.
Problem with ‘suckling’ is that it always makes me think of ‘sucking pig’. What’s NIV? – being too lazy to Google…. Something version I guess.
Sorry – Christian jargon. NIV = New International Version, a fairly common modern-ish version of the Bible.
There are many versions (old and new) that have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version / Now Rarely Sexist Version) isn’t shy of using uncommon words like “wadi” and avoids use of “he” and other male language where it isn’t needed.
The Good News (Today’s English Bible is the official name for it, I think) is more of a paraphrase than a straight translation of the original Hebrew, Greek etc. My favourite bit is in the Old Testament when the Israelites are building a temple. In other translations, e.g. the NRSV, it goes through each of the 12 tribes of Israel, listing all the things that they brought to help build the temple. Each tribe brings the same stuff! In the Good News it says “The twelve tribes of Israel each brought the following: …”
It can be helpful to have such a wide choice, or it can be confusing or another way in which Christians can disagree 🙄
I’m most used to modern, Non-Conformist services (Methodist etc.), but at college I came into contact with the Book of Common Prayer (ancient Church of England liturgy) which has all the thees and thous that can be a bit of a barrier, but also has gems like He hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts in The Magnificat, so I’m in the variety can be a good thing camp.