Milo Helps On The Church Commission

After yesterday's great adventures with nature, I knew I had work to do, and it was in the studio. I wasn't sure how this was going to work with Milo due to the last adventures in the studio, and he had not been back.

But I just told him "Milo, we have to get to work, and if you're a good studio assistant, then I will pay you to help. Okay?"

Seemed to be the magic words. "What do I do?" he asked.

I reluctantly handed him a pair of very sharp scissors. "I need a rough cut on this tree pattern---you don't have to follow the lines---I just need the shape cut from the extra paper. Can you do that?"

He grabbed the scissors, plopped down on the table and started cutting. "Yep! I can DO this!"

And he cut and cut.........carefully around the design lines.......

.....In fact, he didn't stop. He kept right on going until the huge tree was almost released from the extra paper it was drawn on! A big tree for a little bug!

"Milo!" I said with a smile, "You did an excellent job! I'm so proud of you; you saved me a lot of time! Thanks!"
He just smiled that sweet smile. "It was fun! And I'm glad you let me help since I sort of messed things up yesterday........"

"Look Milo, we were both okay and so was the mower. We just won't try running anything with an engine. Can you get the Timtex for me? I need it unrolled......."

And he was off, struggling with the big roll......."Do you need help?" I asked.

"Nope! I'm done. It's ready for you to start marking." He eyed the wall where the major portion of the work was hanging. "You know, I've painted and drawn before. I can help put the finishing touches on some of that."

Hmmmm........he did good with the scissors, and handled the Timtex.....but paint? I waffled a bit......He didn't.

"You just load your brush halfway up the bristles, so it doesn't slop around."

And the next thing I knew he had suspended himself from the towels I had pinned to keep stray paint off the other portions.

When he finished touching up the edges of the sky, he hot footed it back to the paint and loaded up a brush full of green for the landscape......

"Just a little more up here......"

"....and I'll smooth this line too, to make it look nice."

"There!" he said with a bit of well earned pride. "I think it's a good start! Did I do okay?"

"You did much more than okay Milo---you did SUPER!!! You're very good at this. We had a productive time out here, and had fun too...yes?"

"Yep!" And his little bug-butt was heading for the house, where the cheesecake brownies were. It was a while before I got done for the day and went in to join him but when I did, I found him in the living room, contemplating one of my statues.

"Who is that?" he asked.

"That's a statue of Jesus, who is the Son of God. It's one of my favorites. It came from a church."

Milo sat for a minute rather quiet and I knew something was going on in his brain.

"You know," I continued, "The hanging you worked on today will be in a church too."

He still didn't say anything.

"Have you been to church Milo? Did Deb take you?"

He shook his head *no* very rapidly. "I did not leave the closet because I had heard what people thought of Millenium Bugs and it wasn't nice. I was afraid to come out. Everyone was afraid of us, but they never had met us. So I just stayed there till Mom decided I needed to see the world a bit." He looked at the statue again and then whispered to me, "Do you think HE likes me?"

I patted him on the back and smiled.

"Milo, He loves you, because He made you. And all of us. And everything on the earth and in the skies and beyond. Pretty cool, yes?"

Milo nodded yes as he was heading for his bed. It was early, but he had worked hard. "I think that is very nice," he said through a big bug yawn. And I knew those shiney little eyes would soon be closing for sleep, but his little bug-mind was going to be going a mile a minute.

I wonder what he will come up with tomorrow?

Yawn......