If you build it...

Jonathan hopped off the school bus and ran down the driveway to the house. He handed me a letter from his teacher and breezed by me to get a snack. I opened it and began to read,

"Dear Mrs. Parra,".

Now the last letter that started this was was letting me know that Jonathan had been misbehaving on the bus so I moved to the sofa to sit down and continued reading aloud.

"I have selected Jonathan to be the snow plow for this year's Christmas production of Flakes. Since you did such a nice job on Jonathan's costume last year for the production, I thought you might be up for this challenge."

I put the paper down to look at Jonathan, who was washing down his devoured peanut butter sandwich with milk.

"Jonathan?" I started, "I thought you were going to be a snowflake? I already bought your costume!" I said, hoping to find a loop hole out of this seemingly monstrosity of a project. His smile disappeared after hearing my words. "OK" he said.

I often refer to Jonathan as my "outside-of-the-box child". Nothing is ever simple with him. He is constantly thinking of a different way to do what I have asked of him. To a black and white gal like me, it can be very frustrating at times.  Yet, he has such a sweet heart and usually sees that I get frustrated and changes what he is doing. Then I try to remember that scripture in Proverbs that says,

"Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it." (amplified version).

It's a tough balancing act not squelching his unique spirit. I have to admit that sometimes I am not patient, and I just want it done my way.

"Do you really want to be a snowplow?" I asked half heartedly?

"YES!" he declared emphatically.

How do I say no to that?? Well, I didn't. So the project has begun.

Last night, I went to Lowe's to pick up some boxes they had saved for me. (Thanks Paula at Lowe's on Clemson Blvd in Anderson for making a little boy's wish come true!) The boxes were huge, so with the help of a nice employee, we broke them down so they could fit in my SUV. It was a tight squeeze, but thankfully they all fit.

This morning, while brainstorming about how to tackle this project, I did what any smart, non-crafty mom would do...I googled how to make a snow plow out of cardboard! (What did non-creative people like me do before Google? (They probably made their son be a snowflake! Haha.) Anyway, I have a plan...and it's going to require lots of duct tape, but I think it will work! Here's phase 1, with the help of my lovely assistant. I have a long way to go, and only two weeks in which to do it, but to see Jonathan's smiling face plowing snow on stage will be all worth it!



Do not adjust your screen, our Christmas tree is crooked! :) It has character!