God Calls All to the County Fair

Almost every Friday, the kids and I hang out together. Sometimes we meet friends, and sometimes it's just the three of us. Always, we do something fun.

This weekend, the Arlington County fair is in town. Three things are true when it comes to the fair. First, it's always freakin' hot. Second, weekends are super crowded. And third, Ed has a talent for picking the winning pig in the pic races. This last thing is good to know, just in case he ever loses his day job. Long ago, when Ed and I went to the fair, we were actually offered jobs doing take-down by a friendly ride operator, but we're no longer that cool. Toting two kids around, the ride operators know I'm not interested in such a fine opportunity.

As Ed was leaving for work, he told the kids I was going to take them to the fair (allowing me to miss the long lines, since nobody tends to go on Friday morning). One of them instantly cried "I'll only go if there's bibles!". This is because when we went to the Chincoteague carnival over 4th of July, the Gideons were kind enough to send each child home with their very own New Testament.

I'm happy to report, neither Helen nor Connor were disappointed. And, the Gideons in Arlington must be fancier than the Gideons in Chincoteague, because their bibles came not just with an orange cover (like the ones in Chincoteague), but in a rainbow of colors. Connor lit up when the man holding the stack of bibles came near him, and Helen almost did a little dance. Helen chose orange. Connor chose brown.

While we were in Chincoteague, the kids would pull out their bibles and read them while they were on rides (which was actually a good strategy with how old some of the rides there are). Here, they waited to bust them out until we were home, and then they both read me several poems from them. The poems sounded strikingly like Mother Goose.

Note the direction Connor holds his bible.

To be fair, right after I took the picture and laughed, Connor realized he was reading upside down and switched the orientation of the book.

Elaine