Maria Rapha's Antics

So Maria Rapha moved back in with me today. I honestly have very mixed feelings. A big part of me is really glad that she is back as I believe it is in her best interest. Another part of me (aka my flesh) is rebellious. I find it rather pleasant living alone and being able to do whatever I want whenever I want. However, I think my soul is winning my flesh right now.

So I thought I might share some of Maria Rapha’s antics from today. We started off with reading—our sore point last time. She made no complaints of reading, but I could tell the wheels were turning. It soon became very obvious that she was deliberately missing words. I am not kidding. She would see a work like ‘tall’ and say something like ‘come.’ I tried to wait out, hoping she would just stop. She didn’t. Finally, I told her we were going to stop. She said, “Thank you.” I told her we were stopping because I knew she was deliberately reading poorly. When I told her we would continue later, her attitude quickly changed and she actually put some effort forth.

The next episode involves the pet fish I bought her over the weekend. I named him Shadrach. She wanted to name him something else and I could do little to stop her, though I felt sorry for the poor fish because I knew his name would be embarrassing. Her first suggestion was ‘Hoki.” Now, you have to give me some grace here because I will admit that I blurted before I thought. I cried, “Like Hoki-Poki?!” She then put her head on her chest and fought back the tears. She mumbled, “That’s my dad’s name.” Smooth one Brittany, smooth one.

But in all fairness to me, I didn’t want her fish being named after her dad because I am pretty sure the poor thing is going to end up dead. During our nightly readings, my suspicions were pretty near confirmed. I turned to say goodnight to Hoki Shadrach the First when my mouth drops open in horror. Half of the fish’s fin was floating at the top of the bowl. I sharply turned to Maria Rapha and sheepishly explained that they “might” have ripped off when she was cleaning his water. Poor fish.

Anyway, please continue to pray for us as we both die to our flesh daily.

B