When is a pickle NOT a pickle?

     There is a punch line I promise!

     A few weeks ago the oldest four children were at 4-H and I had the special pleasure of being at home with the youngest two children.  Lelia takes great pride in being a big sister (5 years old!) especially when it turns out she is the oldest child at home for any reason.  This particular evening she determined she was going to provide the entertainment for her little brother.  He happened to be using the potty when she barged into the bathroom and said, "I'm going to tell you a joke okay?"  He answered with a very excited, "Yay!" 

Lelia - "Knock, Knock"

Alais - "Knock, Knock"...big smile, two years old - doesn't know the knock-knock rules

Lelia - "NO... I say knock, knock... you say who's there.  Okay?"

Alais - "Okay."

Lelia - "Knock, Knock"

Alais - "Knock, Knock"

Lelia - "Say who's there."

Alais - "Who's there."

Lelia - "Cheeseburger"

Alais - Hysterical laughing.... he doesn't know it wasn't the punch line yet.

Lelia - Takes a deep breath.

Mom - Me trying to jump in and help her not be discouraged... "Cheeseburger who?"

Lelia - (Thinking for a moment.....)  "YOU!!"  And now her and Alais are both laughing.

Lelia is number 5... she hasn't entered the stage yet where they suddenly like to tell jokes and make up days worth of jokes, some that don't have punch lines.. the ones you laugh at because you love their little hearts for wanting to make you laugh... and your laughter encourages them to make up even more jokes - it can turn into a very long cycle.  She hasn't entered that stage but that evening I had wondered if by the next day she was going to be telling jokes for many many days to come.  She hasn't, I keep trying to remember around what age that happens.

So back to "When is a pickle Not a pickle?"

     At the end of November, I was walking through a store and saw a pickle ornament on a shelf.  I didn't stop, I thought it was a little odd.  Before I left I went back over to the pickle and read the package - "The tradition of the Christmas Pickle.  It's Christmas, a time of jingle bells, stockings, presents under the tree, and family traditions.  Celebrate the holidays with a time-honored, German tradition and have fun with your family for years to come!  Following an Old World custom, parents waited until Christmas Eve to hide a small pickle ornament on the Christmas tree, tucking it out of sight among the branches.  On Christmas morning, the first family member to spot the pickle was rewarded with a special blessing for the coming year and received the first present from under the tree."

     So I went home with a Christmas Pickle after all.  The kids were so excited when I read the package to them.  My oldest son gave us this precaution, "You do realize with this many kids trying to find the pickle the tree is probably coming down?  But one of us will find the pickle!"  I was so surprised that they were all looking forward to this new tradition so I took a picture of it and posted to see if anyone would be interested if we sold Christmas Pickles to raise support for our adoption.  I thought maybe we would sell 5 pickles.. no more than 10.  Celita said we make a map showing which states the families were that bought pickles to help bring Alonzo, Sadie, and Sophia home.  Cesali helped us looked through pages of pickle photos for on the map. 

     As days and weeks went by, we ended up buying all the pickles that three stores had somewhat locally.  After that we drove an hour in each direction to find more pickles as families came alongside us to help bring our children home by donating for a Christmas Pickle.  One day, our van was stuck on ice and it was almost time for the mail to be picked-up so I walked (sort of sprinted) to the post office with packages of pickles to mail.  It may seem like the sane thing would have been to say we ran out of pickles when we were out....but it really touched our hearts to know there were so many families willing to be a part of our children coming home, so it was worth every last minute run for more pickles.  When all the pickles were sent out, this is what the map looked like!!
                                                                                                       

     One day after Lelia had finished her schoolwork, she tugged at my dress asking, "Would you show me the pickle map again?"  I brought the picture up on the computer screen... her eyes got so big as she said, "Wooowwwww" running her little hands across all of the pickles on the map.  With her next breath she says, "I can't wait for my brother and sisters to come home so they can see how many people love them!!"

     So when is a pickle NOT a pickle ... when it's LOVE!!

     Thank you to everyone that has been love to help bring our children home, we also cannot wait for Alonzo, Sadie, and Sophia to know how loved they are!