Double Decker Couch

You can see it in the picture above, the double decker couch.  This is the highlight of the set to Daddy.

Wyldstyle:  "That's literally the dumbest idea I ever heard."

Vitruvius:  "Please, Wyldstyle, let me handle this.  That idea is just the worst."

Okay, so others aren't exactly impressed.  But it is something that's pretty cool.  You can actually sit on the top portion there, and yes, your feet would dangle in front of the people's faces seated below you.  That's why you have to call dibbs on top.

Here's a glimpse of the rest of our set, and the ongoing drama that Madison got to see this morning, along with hundreds of other children, of course.  The mini-figures in Joey's pocket came to life when he pressed the button of an invention he shouldn't have, and two of them seem friendly.  The third one we have yet to meet, but he's a bad guy by design.

It was a great morning with skits, music, videos and the message, another foundational block of our faith.  We've had a bit of turnover with actors moving lately, but these new faces on stage are just stepping up in such a great way.  How wonderful not to stress out about things, to know that these lines will be memorized and that the performances will be right on target!

Mommy and I even made some giveaways that reminded Daddy of the old days - we found enough LEGO bricks to make an assembly line of ducks.  So Daddy made a package, and with a low investment on cost, we were able to hand out some creative prizes to winners on stage.

Yep, you got yourself a kit to make a genuine LEGO duck!

Pictures are pouring in of kids and their LEGO creations, all for us to share on screen.  And you should see these hats that Mommy made for the race hosts.  These things are pretty awesome - we'll have to take some photos of them later, just to show you how cool they are.  It was a great idea she spotted, and she made it her own.

As for the message, it was spot on as well.  We talked about Romans Road, and about Jesus, the Master Builder, making a bridge.  In fact, here's the write-up for today's great day:

     Even though the instructions are there for a perfect life, we humans keep messing up.  We keep sinning.  Some time ago, a man named Paul summed it up when he said everyone has sinned – even he himself was the chief of sinners.  That says a lot, when you consider this was the guy who wrote much of the New Testament.

    Here’s the problem:  sin created a great abyss of nothingness between God and us!

    There was only one way that anyone could get all of us from our side of the abyss over to the side where God is:  build a bridge.

     We needed a hero to do that, a perfect Master Builder.  We needed Jesus.  Fortunately, He came: For God so loved the world that He gave His only son.

     Jesus took the punishment for all of our sins himself.  Though he himself didn’t do anything wrong, He sacrificed himself, and plunged deep into the abyss. 

     But the story doesn’t end there.  Here’s where it builds into something miraculous:  Jesus rose again.  And He built that bridge, because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

     There is a way across the great divide, but it is narrow.  The Good News is that you’ve found it.  And when you confess your sins and invite Jesus into your heart, you won’t have to worry about that great abyss of nothingness anymore.  You’ll be a new creation, and joined with God forever.  Everything is awesome!

     This is the most important building block of our faith, a foundational brick upon which everything else is built.  The Master Builder Paul made it easy to learn, and easy to share, so join us now as we look at something wecall Romans Road. 

We got home, and weren't exactly ready to go out and take on the world.  Yesterday was a big travel day, mixed with a lot of set up for this morning's service.  The end result was a bit of fatigue.  Tonight, Madison even went to bed early, quite willingly.

We did a lot of piano practice, and Daddy was grateful to have recorded some of the piano work with his iPad.  We watched Mrs. Pam again, and were able to remember the music much easier this time around, after simply pressing play.  Things are 'stretching' again in class, a concept that Mrs. Pam explained would happen - there are periods of relaxing, easy-to-play pieces.  Followed by intense, hard to practice pieces that suddenly ambush you!  We're right now in a 'stretching' point, but Madison is doing well here.

She's motivated by rewards, namely the promise that Daddy will go take out some more "Monster High" videos from the library.  Daddy put a few of those on hold, and will pick them up, so she can watch those on the way down to Florida.

After piano, we did some more Disney Infinity, which is something that still holds our attention.  Daddy built a version of the RLS Legacy from the movie, "Treasure Planet."  There's a great backdrop of space, and finally Daddy was inspired to build something with that game.  It's a pirate ship floating in space, where Madison and Daddy had quite a few little battles with cannons and villains.

Afterwards, we watched a new movie, based on a friend's recommendation (Josh).  That movie was "Igor."  It was actually not that bad!  The animation was a little low budget in a way, but the story, character design and voice talent were all really good.  This movie fits our themed movies for the season, and will go into our collection now.  We had our popcorn, and plopped down on the couch together for an early movie.

Tonight before bed, we read from a version of the movie "Frozen," a chapter book that Madison got recently from the Book Fair.  We also read the entire book "Frankenfly," which is a great addition to the Fly Guy series of books.

And then it was time to go to bed early.  For all of us.  The weather outside was rainy, so we were limited in what we could do outside anyway - but that's just our justification.  We were a little tired, all of us.  A good night's rest will be good medicine.

One thought before going to bed:  one of our things said in prayers tonight was funny:  "Thank you for helping us get Jamie Lynne's head from out of the air duct."

Which is an odd story.  Madison was in tears at the kitchen table.  She was playing with that alien LEGO, the one she calls Jamie Lynne.  She was putting on a vest or something, which requires you to take off her head.  Well, the head pops off and out of her hands - and yes, right into the air duct in the floor.  We all heard the metallic 'ting!'  We knew the thing went straight in there, and maybe down that long tubing system.  We never really looked in there before, but we just knew in our hearts that this might have been a lost cause.  Nevertheless, Daddy got the flashlight.  Madison was emotional.  Could we possibly get it out?  Could we find it?  Fortunately, the hose goes horizontal, parallel with the floor. But for how long?  And did the head roll that far down, and maybe straight to a vertical portion?  Daddy used a backscratcher, and clawed at the sides of the tube, in these dark places all past his visibility.  And did not give up.  That little LEGO alien head had to be in there.

And just when it seemed all hope was lost, Daddy clawed something - and started to drag it upwards.  Sure enough, it was Jamie Lynne's head.  Madison rejoiced.  The family rejoiced!  Jamie Lynne's head was reunited with the body, and there was a celebration in the house.

Thank you Lord, for helping us get Jamie Lynne's head back out of the air duct.