Of course, Penny wouldn’t like the ceiling to come down on her, so I tore the bed down, moved all the little veggies into the same room, and took over the older veggies’ room.

That wasn’t fun.

This big old floss farmhouse used to belong to Junior’s dad, but now it’s own by Mr. Nezzar’s cousin, who makes unicycles.  In any case, it’s been one thing after another in this house and I’m not sure when the ceiling will be fixed.

In the meantime, I was having difficulty processing everything that’s going on.  So I was being awfully quiet.

It was at this time that I remembered something I read in For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women.  My wife needs to know I love her, even if I have other things going on.

So I told her so.

Guys, I’d encourage you, even if the sun’s too hot or you’re not getting enough watering, you’re married to a Peach (maybe not literally like I am), but your wife is there by your side and on your team.  Don’t let her wonder where your affections lie or believe she is the problem.

Tell her you love her—even if you don’t want to get into it now.  I think you’ll find that it help both of you to deal with what’s happening.

Of course, Penny wouldn’t like the ceiling to come down on her, so I tore the bed down, moved all the little veggies into the same room, and took over the older veggies’ room.

That wasn’t fun.

This big old floss farmhouse used to belong to Junior’s dad, but now it’s own by Mr. Nezzar’s cousin, who makes unicycles.  In any case, it’s been one thing after another in this house and I’m not sure when the ceiling will be fixed.

In the meantime, I was having difficulty processing everything that’s going on.  So I was being awfully quiet.

It was at this time that I remembered something I read in For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women.  My wife needs to know I love her, even if I have other things going on.

So I told her so.

Guys, I’d encourage you, even if the sun’s too hot or you’re not getting enough watering, you’re married to a Peach (maybe not literally like I am), but your wife is there by your side and on your team.  Don’t let her wonder where your affections lie or believe she is the problem.

Tell her you love her—even if you don’t want to get into it now.  I think you’ll find that it help both of you to deal with what’s happening.

What do your young veggies like to do?

My veggies like to play our Wii—but they don’t just play it, when they turn it off and walk away they start playing and acting out where they think the story will go next.

At lunch or dinner they will recount the new things they’ve discovered on their game—in context like we totally know what they’re talking about.

Should we know everything about what they play?  Should we get involved?

We do from time to time—or at least I do.

What do you think?  Are video games always wrong?  How about acting them out?

What is the primary responsibility for the family?  In my opinion it’s training up the next generation—raising a godly seed.

So, how far should this go?

What They Take In

To me, this should include what they watch on television and what they read.  What they see and take in should be that which builds their faith, not that which would seek to harm it.

That means that there are few good choices for entertainment out there—and some would say that means that there’s more time for imagination.

VeggieTales, Adventures in Odyssey, Patch the Pirate and the like provide some great ways to stretch your kids minds using imagination and storytelling.  These are positive things, to which you can add biographies and other true stories to give an appropriate image of God.

Where They Go to School

It’s important that, while their minds are young, they are trained in the ways of the Lord.  Children are not equipped to make adult decisions about what to believe, and when left to make those decisions, the one that spends the most time with them will be the one they pick.

With public education reduced to education by secular humanists, there are really only two choices for the believer if they’re seeking to raise godly seed: Christian schooling or homeschooling.

Friends

We must make sure that our children choose for friends those that would build their character, not those that would seek to tear it down.  This doesn’t have to be obvious, but it should be planned.

Take an interest in your kids friends and their parents.  You need to know what they’re being exposed to and who will be influencing them when you’re not.

It was an accident, of this much I’m sure.  I know that my youngest really likes her VeggieTales, but I also know that she really likes to prove that she’s older than she is—that being all of 2!

So, it didn’t surprise me when I came home to the news that she had opened up our copy of the Big River Rescue and the that the disc had cracked!

The shock!

The horror!

It’s crazy, but I still haven’t gotten around to replacing that DVD.  My kids are growing older, and VeggieTales is not having the influence in their lives that it once had.  I’m not sure when it started to change, or whether it’s just that they’ve seen them 100 times (or is it I that have seen them that many times?), but I’m still looking forward to getting this one replaced, and the next one that’s coming out.

Have you had a similar circumstance?  When did your kids “outgrow” their favorite Veggies?

In many ways I’ve felt a lot like President Bush here.  Today I received the last couple of paychecks from my old employer, and I’m knee deep in new projects with my new one.

I’m in the process of trying to find a house, trying to help my family adapt to the new arrangements, and wondering why the apples that I bought are red when I bite into them.

Don’t worry—they’re not talking apples!

So, if I seem a little scarce, that’s why.  It’s not that I’m not reading, it’s just that I now have a two hour commute that’s eating into my blogging time.

So, I’ll try to get in here when I can until we can get a new schedule or a new house, and hey—are you going to go rush out and get Prince Caspian when it comes out next Tuesday?!

No, unfortunately my car does not turn into a robot, but one can dream, can’t they?

Tomorrow my fruit family vehicle goes back into the shop.  It’ll be the fourth time that it’s gone in to try to have the air conditioning fixed.

“What?!” you say, “Are you mad getting that fixed going into the winter months?!”  Nope.

For one thing, it’s something we started trying to get fixed in August—when it was hot.  Now that global cooling has kicked in and the white stuff has started falling from the sky, we decided that it’s better on our windshield to have air conditioning to clean up the condensation and fogging that come with the winter months.

That, and when my cousin Patricio Potato was trying to fix the air conditioning leak he did something to make the rear fans not work.  Grr…

So, I’ve been back and forth with the dealer trying to get them to fix it.  It’s not like I need a Mercedes AC Compressor, I just need something that will fix the tubes that take the coolant back and forth.

I mean, who doesn’t want a working air conditioning system in the heat of the summer?  And boy am I glad it’s not the ac compressor or some of the other auto ac parts.

Perhaps Saturday I’ll have to put on the snow tires…

Given the time of year, everyone’s thoughts turn to a specific vegetable—the pumpkin.  But, as a Plum, I always wonder if people out there have favorite vegetables, and why.

So, I figured it would be a good time to ask a few of my friends what they’re favorite vegetables were, and why.

James the Pumpkin

My favorite vegetable has got to be those French peas.  I mean, what’s not to love, their accent, their little faces, the fact that there can be one or multiples of them in the blink of an eye.  Wow!

Junior Asparagus

I’m partial to carrots, because my friend Laura is one, but pretty much anything but squash is pretty fine by me.

Larry the Cucumber

Well, I’ve been seeing (off and on) Petunia, who’s a Rhubarb, so I think I’d get in a lot of trouble if I didn’t say I liked Rhubarb.  That being the case, apples are pretty neat as well—unless…

Larry Boy

I’m Larry Boy, then I don’t like apples, because they can be bad!

Bob the Tomato

Personally, I like broccoli, but we don’t ever feature them on VeggieTales—why?  I don’t have the foggiest idea.

Laura Carrot

I pretty much like carrots—they’re so pretty and easy to deal with.

So, what do you and your family do for Halloween?  Do you even celebrate it?

Halloween is not big at my house, because of what it stands for.  I was actually reading this great article from Answers in Genesis called What about Halloween and I was fascinated by the discussion of the history of the holiday—and the possibility that it could be linked to the death of Mrs. Noah.  Of course, you’ll have to go over and read that, but I was surprised that no one interviewed my friend, James the Pumpkin, to see what he thought…

Peter Plum: So James, what have you been up to since Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed?

James the Pumpkin: Well, Peter, I’ve been mostly working from home as a medical transcriptionist.  You see, there aren’t a lot of jobs as extras for Pumpkins is VeggieTales as their used to be.  Seems like they now prefer Carrots.  My neighbor comes home very night, and he keeps rubbing it in that he got a bit part in–

PP: That’s nice, James.  I’m really hear to ask you about Halloween.  What do you think of the holiday.

JTP: –Huckleberry Larry.  What?  Halloween?  I hate that holiday.  For days before the 31st of October I have to lock my doors and have Pizza Angel deliver my dinner every night.  Those crazy neighbor kids will do anything to get a laugh.  They paint funny faces on my door and set candles on my windowsills.  One year, I made the mistake of trying to hang up clothes and found someone trying to cut open my head!

PTP: Wow, that sounds dangerous.

JTP: Yeah—I mean, can you see me with a toothy grin all the time!  In any case, me and my pumpkin patch stay inside for Halloween.  And every year it’s the same thing—people coming by thinking that because there’s a band by that name that’d be fun to Smash Pumpkins.

PTP: Well, thanks for talking to me about this, and I hope you get another break in VeggieTales soon!

So, Sunday night we were sleeping, minding our own business, when I heard a *thwack* outside my door.  It sounded like plastic crumpling not unlike when my VeggieCar was hit many years ago.  It was 3:45 am Eastern Tomato Time, and I took a look out front to see if there was an accident.  Only, there was no accident.

The Police: Just a Patrol?

There was this police car outside my house, all of its lights on, and the officer was walking around on foot shining a flash light down the space between my house and my neighbors.

I gave the police office a call, and I thought I’d get Scooter Carrot, but it was some lady that did not give me her name.  She said that it was routine patrol, and not that big of a deal.

So, just to be on the safe side, I made sure to dead-bolt my door—when I noticed that my motion-sensing light on my garage was on.  This made me suspicious—but then Penny saw someone run across our front lawn!  That was right after I heard another plastic *thwack*.

The Real Story

She called back the police to give a description of the Scallion, and they decided to send someone by the house.  When Scooter arrived, he told us that he had seen two of those rascally Scallions running around our neighborhood, and figured they had ducked down one of the alleys.

I looked later, and sure enough, our fence gate had moved. The next day, Penny saw that there were mud marks from where the Scallion must have jumped our fence.

Needless to say, we think that Bob should have us move in with him for a little while.