Book Entry 193: 1989 Charlies US Map

          Charlie class assignment was to make a map of the United States.  He could make it out of any medium he chose as long as it was the right shape and divided correctly into named states.  We got permission to make the map together.  Charlie helped trace the states and pinned a label on each one.  When it came to Hawaii and Alaska Charlie wasn't sure where to put them.  I had him get out his encyclopedia and look up the United States again to figure it out.  His remedy was to put them out in the ocean like the people who made the encyclopedia did.  It seemed like a good idea and once he understood Alaska wasn't just off the coast of Disneyland our map was on its way to completion.  Over the period of a month we had pieced together a good map. 

          I put a sleeve at the top and bottom, inserting a long flat piece of lathe into each holding the map straight.  Charlie had a difficult time sometimes conforming to everyone else's ideas.  There were a few paper puzzle type maps and lots of paper Mache maps but Charlie's was one of a kind.  I know parents had helped the other kids too, and while Charlie didn't sew his map together he did learn to spell all the states, outline all the shapes, and show me what position each state should take on his map. 

          Charlie's teacher hung his map quilt on the wall for a few days and when it came home it had a paper with an A pinned on it.  The map took its place on another of Charlie's bedroom walls across from his animal quilt for many years.

Book Entry 192: 1989 Innocence and Truth

Words express thoughts and feelings.  Sentences are made of words.  Sometimes the words we say or hear are not the feeling intended.  This is a little story of a few words that could have been hurtful but were recognized as an expression of deep joy and love. 

Charlie always came home from school excited and full of questions.  One particular day the teacher had been going over the concept of family.  He needed me to help answer several questions on his paper for the next day.  What makes a family, who is in your family, how many are in your family, etc. 

          I helped Charlie make a list of his grandparents, uncles, aunts, me, Larry, Heidi, Robin, Adam, and Justin.  When he asked if we were going to have more babies because some of the other kids were getting more babies in their families, I answered no and took the opportunity to tell him just a little bit about three other babies who were born into our family and not been able to stay.

His eyes got wider and wider.  He counted on his fingers and was excited to say, “If those three had lived and we all lived, we’d have 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 kids mom, that would be great!”  I immediately explained to him had the three little girls who were born into our family been able to stay with us our whole family would probably be very different.  I explained we probably wouldn’t have Heidi because she came right after our Joyce and Jayne.  We might still have Robin.  We would have Cari.  I told him our family would probably have ended up Joyce, Jayne, Robin, Cari, Adam, daddy and me.

His eyes got bigger and bigger.  I could see his face filling with a question and when he couldn’t hold it inside any longer he blurted out, “And Justie and me, right mommy?”  I held him close and said, “Probably not.”  I explained as simply as I could that God had worked it out for us to have three babies that couldn’t stay in our family.  I told him God had put enough love in our hearts that we kept trying to have more children until we finally felt we had completed our family.  I told him if we’d had Joyce, Jayne, Robin, Cari, and Adam we probably would have stopped.  We would probably never have considered adoption.  We would probably never have known him or Justin. 

Charlies mouth dropped open.  His eyes turn red and a single little tear formed and gently ran down his cheek.   “You mean you wouldn’t be my mommy, and daddy wouldn’t be my daddy and I wouldn’t live here in my room?”  “That’s right,” I answered, “but God built our family.  He put it together with one baby, then another, and another until He got it just the way He wanted it.  He made our family just right, don’t you think so?”

Charlie was sitting on my lap, his face was about ten inches from mine.  He took my face in his little hands and looked right into my eyes.  Out of his mouth came the purest words of love I’d ever heard before or since.  He cocked his head to one side and with the biggest smile he could muster happily said, “Oh mommy, I’m so glad they died.” 

His words stung my heart but the love he was trying to tell me he felt quickly overcame the sting.  We should all be so blunt, so honest, and so full of love.

Book Entry 191 1988 Searching for Chip and Dale

          Everyone was busy.  Adam and Robin were out on the three-wheelers, Heidi was baking cookies with Justin, Larry was in his shop and I was vacuuming.  As I’m sure most mothers do, I constantly thought of my kids, where they were, and what they were doing.  I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen Charlie for a while. 

I stopped what I was doing and questioned Heidi.  She hadn’t seen him.  I went out to Adam and Robin and questioned them.  They hadn’t seen him.  I told Adam to find dad and tell him Charlie was missing.  I ran to the back yard and grabbed the pool cover.  I dragged it off the pool as fast as I could.  By that time Adam, Robin, and Larry had made it to the yard.  We were all relieved the pool was empty. 

Robin headed out behind the sheds to where the animals were kept to search for Charlie.  Adam’s assignment was to take the three-wheeler to the canal and search.  Even though the water was out of the canal Charlie could have gotten in and not been able to get back out.  Heidi was searching the house.  Larry went into his shop to check Charlies hiding places.  I went inside the house to help Heidi. 

We had probably been looking for Charlie for fifteen minutes when Larry yelled from behind the fence, “I’ve got Charlie.”  Charlies explanation was simply that he gone into the orchard to look for two of his favorite Disney characters, Chip and Dale.

Charlie had quite an imagination.  I don't know why he thought Chip and Dale would be in our field.  He'd seen them gathering nuts on the cartoons so maybe he thought they were out there collecting almonds.  We were so relieved he found his way home, we didn’t care why he decided to search for them.  He didn’t say if he’d found them or not! 

Book Entry 190: 1988 Charlie and the Coffee Grinder

Larry brought home a huge coffee grinder from a swap meet.  The wheel that turned the grinding mechanism probably had a two foot diameter. There was a handle on the wheel to help with the turning.  Around the parameter of the wheel were the gear cogs that caught and turned the grinder which in turned ground the coffee beans.  Charlie loved to turn the handle.  The rule was he could only turn it if he turned it very slowly.  The coffee grinder sat on the hearth of our fireplace just next to our grandfather clock. 

One morning while I was winding the clock Charlie began turning the wheel on the coffee grinder.  Just as I was locking the glass door on the clock Charlie let out a yell.  The soft pad of his hand between his thumb and his index finger was caught in the cogs.  His pinched skin had stopped the wheel and was still stuck.  There was no way to get him unstuck except to back up the wheel loosening its grip on Charlie.  It hurt but I think he realized it was the only thing we could do.  He looked at my face then at his hand.  I could see it was painful but I think he was also disappointed he had gotten his hand caught.  Not knowing which way to move to make it feel beer Charlie froze, he didn’t move a muscle.  He had tried to be careful but when the wheel started turning it was just too fun not to turn a little faster.

 When his hand was free it did bleed just a little but he didn’t cry.  I think he was so relieved to be able to move about freely he overlooked the blood.  When I put a band aid on his hand he gave me an extra tight hug and he was off for new adventures.  He still has a little scar in the shape of a fish where he got pinched.  I don’t remember Charlie ever turning that grinder again!