Blackberry Pie

My mom visited her sister, Aunt Laurie a few weeks ago in Washington, just in time for blackberry season. She managed to pick and pack 5 cups of berries for herself, me and my sisters to each make a pie. Jake was SO excited to "help" make the pie so when he woke up from his nap one day we began the process. Jake was so anxious to open the berries (and of course sample them) but I said we cannot open the berries until it's time to add them to the mixture. The temptation was growing...then Sam woke up. He also wanted in and was getting louder with his demands. One of things he says that cracks us up is at meal time he'll say "scoop me" for food and "cool me" to blow on it if it's hot. So he's climbing up on a chair he pushed over with a huge wooden spoon he found, yelling "MOMMY! SCOOP ME!!!" He also managed to creep his little hand into the flour mixture for the pie crust pulling out the crucial mixture of salt, baking soda, flour. Then, while I'm distracted with Sam, Jake manages to sneak the forbidden fruit, at which point I dismissed both boys from the kitchen and told Jake he may not help me with the pie anymore because he disobeyed. He was SO sad about that because he had been really looking forward to helping with this pie. Matt was talking to him in the other room and asked me why I wasn't letting him help anymore. I explained what happened and then Matt told Jake to go ask mommy to give him some grace and to ask me what that means. :) So upon Jake's request (thanks babe) I told him that grace means giving someone something when they don't deserve it. Just then, Sam, who found his way back up the chair pushes the wooden spoon in my face and screams, "GRACE! MOMMY! GRAAAACE!" With uneven dough and now less berries than I needed, I let the boys back in to help, and laughed at how God used (all) my boys to remind me about grace.