my plate (?)

ya'll... my boy made this.  for me.

what is it, you ask? i'm not actually sure. maybe a plate? serving tray? or perhaps it's just the greatest piece of artwork ever made? 

we craft a lot at our house, so i have lots of drawings, projects with cotton balls, and things covered in stickers. i love them all, and i have to force myself to not keep everything he touches. it's torture throwing away his little creative things. 

but we have never attempted making a...we'll call it a plate, for now. 

we go to M.O.Ps on Friday nights at our church, a bible study and fun group for mother's of preschoolers. the focus of this group seems to be on living a life that glorifies God, which is what i hope to teach to my son. the devotionals are spot-on with where i am in my life and with what God has been speaking to my heart. my child is well-taken care of, fed even, while i get to spend time enjoying God's word and time with other moms. he has a great time, i have a great time, there's food, and sometimes he comes home with a plate. it doesn't get any better. 

my mom has a really ugly pig in her kitchen. it's one that i made when i was maybe 5 or 6 years old. it's wooden, with black and white beans glued all over it and a little red bow. i remember being pretty proud of that pig. and 30ish years later, minus several beans, it still hangs out in her kitchen. when i picked brooks up last night from his class at M.O.Ps, and they gave me this ceramic plate he had made back before Christmas (it had to have time to "cure"), i instantly knew that everyone who ever enters my home would see it on display and know how very precious the work of these little hands is to me. it's got little lines all through it that i presume he drew with his fingers. i almost cried when they showed it to me. these people know what a momma's heart needs: good Christian people who love my son and who care enough about me to teach me God's word and help my child make me a plate. 

it's my first real piece of art from my brooks. i've been staring at it all morning. it and what it represents are just precious to me. 

thank you God, for plates. for fingers that paint, and for the hands that guide those fingers when i am not there.