Matt and Ethan's "Man-date"

For some time now, the obvious has been looming over me...my precious baby boy is growing up. He is no longer in that sweet Toy Story stage (although his Buzz and Woody are never really very far from his bed even still...which brings a great sense of delight and joy to this momma's heart) and has entered what I must only assume is the pre-adolescent years. He is changing, sometimes as quickly as his moods change...He takes the care in his appearance- fixing his hair into a certain style, picking out the right clothes, the right shoes...and along the way, it seems his eyes are opening to the desperate condition of the world. At this point, what he sees is the sheer cruelty that exists at seemingly every corner. He recognizes the evil in people, sees the difference amongst those who follow Jesus and those who follow their own way. This has brought a series of hurts for him, as he sees how it affects him and his choice of friends. My heart breaks for him as he goes through this difficult season. I wish I could take it all away, yet I know how important it is that he learns to trust His heavenly Father through this.

All of this to say, Ethan's one wish for his birthday (other than to be with his best buddy Rob) was to have a guy day (my words "Man-date) with a buddy he has met here and a few friends he met at the marriage retreat we went to thsi month. One of the blessings the Lord has given us here is a community of believers. We may not see most of them often, but there is a significant community of North America believers in our surrounding area and the Lord has directed us to a few families that, Praise Jesus, have boys Ethan's age, that he clicked with. Finding North Americans to be friends with, is, as you might imagine, sometimes dificult, in a country not your own...

So, Ethan asked Matt if he could plan a day where Matt could take Ethan and his friends to this little ghetto-theme park we have here called Fantastic World. I say it like that because it is all these inflatables stuck together in this lot. There are a few water ones, and those are the main attractions. (I also say ghetto because they blow them up on the days they are open and deflate them the rest of the days (makes sense) but I just have this thing about germs and bacteria growing in the crease of plastic...uhh....yeah...I digress) Soooo....anyways...Matt organized the day with the dads and their boys and off they went. He took things to make sandwiches, water, cookies, and goodies like that for lunch. Ethan was so excited.

He invited five boys (from two families). So there 9 of them all together and they had a blast. It rained off and on throughout the day, but they didn't care. They spent most of their time on this huge water slide. After they got home Ethan began telling me some of the tricks they were doing on the slide...and I just had to stop him and remind him "Some things a momma doesn't need to hear!"  :)
*I'm sure you other mommas can relate to this*

So, here's a few pictures of the day. It was one of the happiest days for him in a long time. I'm thankful for our little ghetto-theme park, even if it is slighty unsanitary...   *smile*