Perspectives

Happy New Year! Yes, I know it is April. Wanna make something of it?

So, hopefully I am not letting any cats out any bags, but my brother is expecting a son in June. He has decided to name him James. Now, don't get me wrong, James is a perfectly nice name (not to mention a Splendid Red Engine), but it is a rather common name, and our last name is relatively common. When I asked my brother why they chose 'James', he named a number of reasons, one of which was, "It's Biblical." When I relayed this to Adam, he said, "There are lots of Biblical names. Why couldn't he have picked something a little more unusual ... like 'Zebulon'?"

At night, I say prayers with the kids, and one night shortly after this, when we were saying prayers, I finished with, "... and please watch over Zebulon ..." as a little joke. Gwen and Xavier perked up their ears. "Zebulon?"

"Oh, Dad is kidding that Uncle Ez is going to name his son Zebulon. They want to give their son a good Biblical name."

Xavier volunteered, "He wants a Biblical name? I know some great Biblical names."

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"If he were my son," Xavier announced happily, "I would name him 'Kings!'"


Xavier was doing some homework for Social Studies tonight; for a set list of famous people, he was supposed to draw a picture of each person, then write a short caption describing what that person had done. Unfortunately, I cannot post the pictures here, but his captions should illustrate the level of commitment he brought to this exercise:

George Washington: Father of our Country.

Thomas Jefferson: Wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Abraham Lincoln: Freed the slaves.

Cesar Chavez: Boycotted grapes.

Sometimes brevity really is the soul of wit. I'm not sure his teacher will agree with this assessment, however.