Let’s face it, the common denominator in playing mean mommy and ghost is the EXCITEMENT!

We mothers would be remiss not to acknowledge this to our children. After all, sin and evil are exciting to all of us humans. But when we become children of God, we learn two things:

1. That there are certain pleasures and excitements that we simply must not touch, and

2. That goodness and light are always more thrilling than darkness.

With those truths in hand, we have enjoyed one exciting plot in particular: the outback mission.

The day after the “mean mommy” episode, we packed a tin full of snacks, grabbed some old pots and pans, and headed up to a fort in our pine woods. Our nephews had rigged up a really neat fort several years ago, and the girls and I set to clipping back the weeds and outfitting it as a rescue mission for sick and threatened children. I let the girls transplant some ferns into old clay pots to grind up for ” medicine” or “ointments”. Viv took to the woods in search of children who needed help, while Lia preferred to wield a big chunk of chalk to write notes on an old slab of wood.

Together, we splinted broken legs, taught children how to read, shared the gospel, and taught them hymns to encourage their spirits. We hauled logs for firewood, collected nuts and berries, and escaped the villain, Old Crow Feet.

Did my girls even look back in affection to mean mommy? Not a once! 🙂