Three is a Magic Number

We took Emmie and Nikki (the nickname "Em" doesn't seem to fit as well as "Emmie", at least in my mind, so Emmie it is, for the time being, anyway) on an eight-hour drive to see their little sister, Kayla, who is in a different foster home outside Denver. We just got home, so I'm going to post some random thoughts and memories of the trip as they come to mind.
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On the way home today, both Katrina and Nikki were asleep, and I had the Beatles' Let it Be playing on the CD player in the van. I had mentioned earlier in the week that I really liked the Beatles, and made sure to let her know when they were playing in the car. After a lengthy discussion with her about the greatest band ever in rock and roll, my oldest girl began to drill me with questions about them:

Who's singing lead on this one, dad? (That'd be John; Across the Universe)
Now, which one got shot by that crazy guy in New York? (Again, John)
Which one did you say plays left-handed like you do? (That's Paul)
How did you say George died again? (cancer, a couple years ago)

Emmie is such a natural learner. Everywhere we went, she had questions about everything. She has this innate desire to want to know. Those who know me well know that saying I was in my element was an insane understatement. And, I want it to be known (especially to my older brothers) that I'm making sure to raise up these girls right in terms of musical knowledge. They will be the most Beatles-savvy kids in the neighborhood, no doubt about it.

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Emmie and Nikki haven't seen their baby sister, Kayla, in over four months. Turns out there was some sort of mix-up, and Kayla didn't know we were even coming. If you could've seen this little redhead dragging Em and Nikki around by the hands, showing the other foster kids in her home, saying, see? This is my sissy Emily, and this is my sissy Nikki! I love them very much!!!

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The girls spent the night with us in our hotel room last night. I've found that they're really easy marks to make giggle at just about anything, so I was doing everything from my Bullwinkle voice to regaling them with the story about the group of guys in a cabin at a Network winter camp who laughed themselves silly saying Jim Boyd's name over and over again, sounding like nothing other than a chorus of bullfrogs. (I think the only readers of this blog that have any idea what the heck I'm talking about are David T. and Ian, both of whom I'm sure I remember were there). Anyway, they'd about laughed themselves hoarse after a while - real, healthy belly laughs. Hearing these little girls who've gone through too much and seen too much laugh was truly awesome - a true testimony to God's healing power and the resilience He builds into His children.

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Not long after the laughter died down, we decided we really, truly needed to get some sleep, because we had a meeting at 8 AM the following morning. Out of the clear blue, I called out from our bed, "Good night, little ducks!" To which my oldest two girls responded back, without a moment's hesitation, "good night!" Our little ducks. Too much.

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One final one. When we got Emmie and Nikki back to their foster home tonight, the sky was so dazzlingly clear that the Milky Way itself was clearly visible, arcing its way across the sky. I pulled Emmie aside.
"Do you know what that is, Em?"
Once I'd explained the concept of the galactic arm stretching across the sky, she immediately went over to Nikki, who'd been standing with Katrina and Jennifer, her foster mom, on the other side of the van, and, stretching her hand to the sky, asked confidently, "Nikki, do you know what that is?" And proceeded to explain it exactly the way I had to her moments earlier.