The Stash

The night before Valentine's Day, our Preschool Department at church gave us a wonderful gift - a Parent's Night Out/Preschool Pajama Party. The kids had a blast, and so did we! It is not often that we are given the opportunity to go on a date, and it was a great blessing to us.

Instead of fighting the crowds and spending our evening standing in line and waiting, Jason went to one of our favorite restaurants and brought home our favorite dish, a salad and some yummy bread. Being a sentimental man, he thought it would be fun to reminisce and have a candlelight dinner at our smaller sized round table, just as we had when we were first married and it was just the two of us. That is when he found the stash.

Back in my younger days when I really didn't want to finish eating my dinner (for various reasons), I pulled the "wad your food up in your napkin and quickly throw it away" trick. Another one of my favorites was the "fill your mouth completely full with as much food as possible and excuse yourself to the bathroom in order to spit it out" routine. (I think I truly believed that my parents had no idea . . . )

My children are not so elementary. Oh, no, they have exemplified their deeply developed creativity in their institution of the stash. Apparently, when we had begun clearing the table and washing the dishes . . . or perhaps when we went to get the baby after she had woken up . . . or possibly even right before our eyes through cunning trickery and deception, they would put their unwanted food inside the table itself!

There are actually two of our children who lay claim to discovering the perfect hiding place for their unwanted meal remains. Both of them are small and could have easily discovered the small "ledge" directly under the surface of the table where they collected the stash. I am certain that it was innocent at first - a new hiding place for anything small. But then the wheels started turning. . . . "What a great place to stick my food when I don't want to finish eating it! Ha ha! No one will ever know about this! What cleverness I possess!"

However, they didn't foresee Daddy removing the leaf from the table and actually seeing inside area where the gears are housed in order to change its length, otherwise known around our house as the stash.

Jason didn't worry about his discovery during the night of our special candlelight dinner. He just pushed the table back together and hid what was underneath one last time. I was none the wiser. The next morning, though, we had some dustbusters and dyson operators extrodinarie. They were a little sheepish, but very willing to clean up their mess!

I need to heed this warning: I have a very clever bunch on my hands! Now I just need to be checking this special place for future deposits and be on the lookout for future tactics. . . not just because I would prefer for food to not be rotting inside my furniture, but because the Lord has plainly exposed their hearts and their need for a Savior. What a great opportunity for the gospel to be proclaimed . .