Horton Hears a who...But so do you?

The other day, my sweet friend, Carla and I decided that it would be a great idea to take our girls to the movies together! Five. Girls. To the movies.

My girly's had been dying to see "Horton Hears a Who".

And since I may be nominated for cheapest mom of the year...

Wait!

I must interrupt this exciting blog entry to inform you of this VERY important info. Did you know that there REALLY is an award for "Mother of the Year"? One of the speakers at She Speaks was actually HER!! I gulped and felt a little sick to my stomach when she told us this, I thought it was a joke! No joke.

OK back to the blog entry.

... I NEVER and I repeat, NEVER take my girls to the movies. Unless it's at the $1.50 movie. Which is in fact no longer the $1.50 movie but, the $2.00 movie. So we loaded up Kennedy's diaper bag (I knew there was a reason that girly was holding out being potty trained) with all the candy and drinks we possibly could "sneak" in and headed to the $2.00 movies!

We settled all five of them into their seats, filled their little hands up with as much candy as possible, got their little eyes gazing at the big screen and at last the movie began. And I began to think, this might not be such a great idea.

There was one set of eyes that were doing anything but gazing at the screen.

In fact, she was looking at me IN HORROR. Whispering in her shaky toddler tone, "Moooommmmyy.....ders a monster." And I quickly looked at her and said, "No Kennyboo, there is no monster, shhhh." As I popped a skittle in her mouth and turned my head back to the screen. I, wanted to see this movie.

A few moments later with a mouth full of "gittles" slobber running down her face, "MOoooommy....ders a monster." I whispered back to her, "Sweetie, there are NO MONSTERS." I quickly realized that she was in fact looking at the green light fixtures high above her head that could very easily be mistaken for a monster. So, I had a little compassion for her. I gave her a Reese's' Peanut Butter Cup!

Silence. Complete silence.

For like 5 minutes!

But, I did get to see the end. Only because Kennedy had discovered that her booster seat for the chair, in fact made a good stepping stool to peer over the seats in front of us. That kept her well entertained and the people in front of her well annoyed for the ending of the movie!

If you have never seen this movie, it's a really good one! Let me give you the two second recap:

Horton is an elephant who is able to hear a "speck" that sits on a flower, talk. In fact this "speck" is a whole town. "Whoville". You know, Dr.Seuss? Well, everyone thinks Horton has lost it because he is the only one who hears this "speck" talk. At the end of the movie, they are all trying to take him down! Capture him and make him look like a fool! When the Who's find this out, they all come together to make the loudest noise possible to let the other's hear them. They all chant "We are here! We are here!" and make some crazy noises! It finally works and a little kangaroo hears it, Horton is saved and ultimately the who's are saved!

And y'all, as I write this, I am indeed getting a little misty eyed.

I've thought about my week, what's it's been like since I've been home from She Speaks. And it makes my heart sink. Since Monday, my whole world has been turned very quickly upside down. Everything is changing, and not the way I wanted it too! Dreams are not knocking on my door. Opportunities aren't knocking. In fact, no one but chaos is knocking at my door! Let down, after let down, after let down.

But then I think about this silly Elephant, Horton, how HE was chosen to hear the "Who's".

He was very much an unlikely candidate, you know, big fat clumsy elephant to save small tiny speck?

And because he heard the "who's", he had a mission! To save them. There was something special inside of him. He had "ears" that could hear.

When I think about all I experienced and all that has happened this week, I've thought, "But Lord, I heard you, right?" and "God, you said GO, and I went!" "So why do I suddenly feel all crazy, silly and like I've lost it?" "Why do I feel like I am chanting, I AM HERE!"

And God spoke, through this silly elephant named Horton.

He said, "Nicki. Do you see how Horton kept pressing on, kept believing, even when everyone else thought he had lost it? Do you see how he was persistent until the last second, the last possible moment, he held on to his belief in the who's! He knew he had heard that quiet voice speak to him on that day and each day after that. So nothing and no one was going to stop him!"

And I shook my head yes towards God as big croc tears ran down my face.

And He lovingly said, "Hold on to what you've heard. Hold on to my voice. You are the only one that can hear what I am saying, to you. Believe in the unseen. Believe in what you cannot know about right now. Be obedient to the still, small, quiet voice."

Yes Lord. Horton heard the who's and I hear you.

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." -Matthew 6:33