naomi in spain

thanks for all the encouraging and challenging thoughts on my last post. Here's my follow-up - - it consists of three notes to self; read along if you are interested:
Note to self #1. know your boy
he loves ice-cream; he's a sucker for story telling; I cashed in on this and found the right moment to dish up a bowl of ice-cream and incorporate my teaching into the best dramatic rendition of the Exodus account I could muster up; he was hanging on to every word.
Note to self #2. know your boy's limits
Malachai's question was a tough one - - one that I think can certainly be answered from the text, buuuuut I didn't think that the text was as "four-year-old-clear" on his specific question as it was on say, for example - - what God's purpose was in hardening Pharaoh's heart. Soooo I did what any good bible teacher would do - - I tweaked his question and focused on that re-crafted question .
and . . . as to not to give an overbearingly lengthy blog entry here, I really, really want to encourage YOU to read the Exodus account and underline every time that God hardens Pharaoh's heart and the corresponding WHY - - it's fascinating! do it, do it, do it!)
Note to self #3. know and love your bible
I read the account a few times over before I sat down with Malachai; this not only helped me to understand the text better and help me to know where to focus my answer to Malachai, it made me excited about the text (I'm sure I wore poor Joshua down over the next few days - - telling him "did you know that . . . . ?") and when it comes down to it, I guess that that is what I want to transmit to my boys - - not primarily a right-on answer every time (although I will try my darnedest!) but even beyond that a love for the Bible and, of course, the God of our Bible.