Captivated..... by Badminton

I love to watch my children grow and develop.

A few weeks ago I was marveling at their artistic abilities. Last night I was amazed by their ability to spell and define difficult words. I am constantly astonished by the way they can memorize pages and pages of Hindi and recall it with perfect accuracy without reviewing it weeks later.

I love watching them interact with their friends. I chuckle to myself every time I hear Claire talk on the phone... and talk and talk and talk. I am thrilled to see Clark's God-given engineering gifting expressing itself while building his legos or in drawing the most elaborate of airplanes or in crafting some sort of machine out of paper.

I don't remember being amazing at all. I remember being a boring old kid who occasionally liked to read Mary Poppins books and help her teachers after class and who baked lots of brownies with her grandma and had only one or two friends. So the fact that my kids can do all of these things is incredible to me. God must be doing something unbelievable in their lives.

This morning, I am particularly captivated by the improvement in their badminton playing skills. Yes, that is an odd thing to capture my attention on this overcast Wednesday morning in August. But so be it - I am consumed with badminton.

You see, we have what we affectionately call "The Great Room" in our house, a large 2-storied room in the middle of our house with no furniture, outdoor tiling and a skylight that serves really no other purpose except for overflow seating during parties. Therefore, the kids enjoy themselves immensely in this space playing games, running, riding small bikes, etc. But badminton in this room is definitely the number one activity. They get just about anyone who comes over to join them in a competitive doubles match.

When we first moved in to the house more than two years ago, watching them play badminton was a little frustrating. They couldn't hit the birdie back and forth. Hand-eye coordination just was not there. Hit... drop.... Hit.... drop.... Hit.... drop. It was very boring. However, they loved playing, so they persisted. They got more exercise chasing the birdie around the house to where it had landed than they did actually hitting the thing. We chased it into the living room, into the bedroom, into the dining room, up the stairs, upstairs into the office, upstairs into the exercise room.... it even got stuck in the skylight a few times. We are constantly finding badminton birdies all around the house. That in itself became a new kind of treasure hunt competition.

But this morning, I was amazed to see that over time they have improved so much! I mean, I knew they had been improving, but I didn't realize just how much. They can actually hit the birdie relatively competitively with some degree of force back and forth four or five times before losing control. I was sitting at my usual post at the kitchen table staring at the action with wonderment and pride. Way to go guys! You're getting so good!

Perhaps my dream of them supporting me in my old age through a professional sports career will yet be realized.

Or if not, at least my dream of my children making me proud on a daily basis has already come true.

Way to go guys. Now time for homework! (Oops... mom gene kicked in.... )

~lk