Creative God & the shark story

I often get asked by kids what happened to Will's hands and feet. Their curiosity is natural & normally they accept my answers, embrace him, & move on in life. I've noticed that ages 6-8 are the most difficult - they rarely are content with my "that's how God made him answer" and demand more information - but are too old to have any grasp of science - not that I owe them any extra information. They also tend to draw their own conclusions which often need to be corrected - especially now that Will is aware of his differences and so very observant. (For instance, I can't tell you how often kids in this age category ask me if his hands & feet look like this because he is little but will someday grow to look like theirs - it must be a common belief among this age group! They also tend to think that he has no fingers or they get confused between hands & feet - I am constantly helping them count ... my own little contribution to their math skills - though it's scary for society if 6 year olds can't count to 3!) They sometimes have to be silenced with being told that I have answered all I am going to answer & now I am going to play with my son. I want my answers to those children to reflect the truth of who God is as Will's creator and to reflect what we feel comfortable with Will knowing at this time - what is age appropriate for him. Mostly, we want Will to feel accepted & respected within these conversations.

My favorite age group would be ages 11-16- generally speaking, they don't notice Will. Or, if they do notice him, they don't care about his differences unless it directly impacts their own personal lives. Some people might call this self-centeredness. I call it relief.

I also love love love the little 5 year old at the beach last year who never noticed Will's hands & feet. She did, however, notice his bottom! She repeatedly said, "he's got the cutest bottom cheeks ever!" Of course, she's right! That's the kind of girl he will marry ( a loooong time from now!)

So, at the beach recently, we stopped by the pool for a quick dip. There were lots of kids - ages 6-8 swimming. They liked Will's pool toys so they kept hanging around to share and play. Some, however, weren't content to just play - they had questions. And they weren't always content with my answers - even though I just wanted to quickly answer & get back to playing with my maniac swimmer. And they weren't leaving us alone to play (or happily playing with Will) even when I told them that was enough questions - Will is no different than them.

One little girl kept saying, "why?" Finally, I said, "I don't know why. He's just a creative God." Will immediately looked at her & said, "He's a creative God."

I loved hearing him say that & I'm guessing God heard our worship too.

We don't see Will's hands & feet as negatives - they bring out Will's creativity in learning to do life & they demonstrate the creativity of a God deeply in love with His creations. I think He likes our response to life when it doesn't go as planned yet we choose to praise Him.

That did not satisfy this one particular child. She even proceeded to grab Will to study & examine him. This drives me nuts when kids do this.

And so I resorted for the first time to the shark story.

I've heard stories of other parents & older children coming up with creative stories to explain their limb absences. Personally, I've never had to do it. Until now.

She kept bugging us so with a smile on my face, I said, "it was a shark."

I don't think she believed me (hopefully) but she did get quiet finally & just let us play.

It occurred to me later that being at the ocean did make that story more appropriate but hopefully didn't instill in her a fear of the water for life!

For all I know, her parents were baffled the rest of their vacation if she chose to not venture into the ocean again! :)