Cincy Zoo Trip with a 3-Year-Old

Observations:

1.   The travel – Jenna slept most of the way in both directions.  Relatively uneventful travel, except for:
  a.   Leaving later than I meant to: 

• Scrambling to find the camera and batteries which were all dead, so THEN locating the charger that wouldn’t fit in the car AC/DC adapter because it’s too big, THEN finding a liberator power cord to make it fit, THEN locating the 3-to-2 prong adapter to make THAT fit.  (BTW, only got 1 good picture.)
• Bank was balancing the cash machine when I needed it most.
• Needed mittens

  b.   Not using my brain when the GPS wanted me to do something different from signage.  I’m definitely a follower.  Consequently drove in squares for a good 20 minutes getting to the zoo entrance.  The GPS doesn’t know the difference between the employee entrance and the public one.
2.   The zoo experience did not exactly go as envisioned, since the train was not running – mechanical difficulties.  The train was to be our transport to the various stops along the route.  We had to walk.  I lost my map – twice.  It was freezing last night!
3.   It was FREEZING last night! 

• My ear warmers broke
• I didn’t get my coat zipped until halfway through the evening – just juggling stuff and a child. (Yes, Kris, I hear you now, welcoming me to your life. Hey, it’s been almost 30 years! There’s a reason young people have the children.)
• Jenna’s hood kept falling down.  I kept putting it up.  My own hood never stays up. (Remember, no ear muffs.)
• She kept saying it was cold.  I kept agreeing.
• We determined together that whining/crying did not make things warmer.  If anything, it will grow icicles on one’s cheeks. On a variation of the Wonder Pets theme – “What doesn’t work? Whining!  What doesn’t work? Crying!”

4.   Crying – I wanted to…  Okay, not really, but when I got the movie tickets for 7pm, I was unaware that we would be walking everywhere, so my timing was thrown awry.  At 6:56 I realized we needed to find the movie location – like, NOW – had no idea where it was, and finally arrived at 7:12.  The next 2 shows were sold out, leaving only an 8:15 option, but I begged (I rarely do that, as you know. Children make you do things…) to get into the next (7:20) show, and the wonderful zoo staff assisted us.  Part of that encounter:
Staff: “I’ll get you in. Stand right here.”
Me: “Right here – okay.”
Jenna: “I need to go potty!”  Obviously, we could no longer stand right there.  :-\
It all worked out, even to Jenna running under the queue ropes to get us the 3-D glasses (3 pairs for the two of us – go figure) we had neglected to pick up on our harried way in.  Short people are very handy.
Later she said she didn’t really like the movie.  Kris, see what you can figure out about that.  She didn’t keep her glasses on, and there were environmental effects – breezes, rain, rumbling, etc.  She did seem to enjoy getting sprayed and snowed on though.
And what was not to like?  It was warm and we were sitting!
5.   Of course, as is the case with children, who prefer boxes and bubble-wrap over the toys that come in them, Jenna’s favorite thing, amid all the beautiful lights on the trees around the lake, the candy cane forest, and the talking tigers (she did like those a lot), seemed to be a couple of wire snowmen like you would find in anyone’s yard.  The light synced to various Christmas songs, “Frosty the Snowman” in particular.  We watched and waited through several songs in the hope that Frosty would come around again, but alas, it was not to be.
6.   Not to be.  As in, dinner on the way TO the zoo was not to be.  Jenna never mentioned being hungry, so I wasn’t overly concerned.  Late night dinner at McDonald’s – probably 9:30-ish.  Jenna ate very well – 2/3 of her cheeseburger (the whole burger & 1 slice of bun; guess that’s what happens when one is really hungry).  I got her pickle.  Later, one of the managers came to our table and asked her if she wanted ice cream and if and if she would like to help make it, so she went behind the counter and made her own IC cone.  On her way back out to the table, she asked him for one for Gamma.  What a sweetie.  You know, I don’t really care about vanilla soft-serve, but that was totally NOT the point.   She was so sweet!
7.   A wonderful evening that didn’t go as scripted.  But wait – that’s life isn’t it?

ON GOD’S PROTECTION

The first memory that comes to mind concerning God’s protection is of my crossing 10^th street, bouncing my basketball, paying no heed to oncoming traffic. (Well, I HAD the right of way.) Although I was traveling with the lights, good little girl that I always was, a car came barreling around the corner and screeched to a halt just before it “tapped” me on the shin. Another childhood incident revolved around a faith proclamation and darts aimed just above my head. ‘Tis said that God protects fools and children; in that case he did both. (Okay, moms, just imagine your thought process were you to walk in on your children playing, only to find one throwing darts at the other whose head was squarely centered in front of the dartboard bull’s-eye. My mom, on the other hand, never learned of this escapade.) And then there was the electrocution – something about bare feet, saltwater, and a frayed electrical cord. My mother was God’s instrument of protection that time.

As one grows up, matures, or simply gets older, the protection extends past the mere physical, as He gently guides your steps regarding friends and environment. Close calls, embarrassing situations, questionable peers and the consequences thereof – all avoided by God’s grace alone.

All this before I even committed myself to Christ – some call it prevenient grace.  Regardless, like a child is protected within his mother before he is born, so God protects us before we know anything – and for some of us that takes a very long time.