Day Six–Chipmunks!

“Hi, guys! Are you ready to go?” Justin’s dad asked as his family walked into Jessie’s kitchen.

“We’re just about ready,” Jessie’s mom replied.

“Hey, Justin, will you help me with Freckles?” asked Jessie. “I have to put him in the laundry room before we go.”

“Sure!” Justin went to help Jessie. “I’m sure excited about the picnic today.”

“Yeah! I love roasting hot dogs over a campfire and throwing rocks in the lake. It’ll be great!” said Jessie.

It didn’t take long until they were driving through a big gate hidden in the trees. They followed a winding road until they came to a lake. Justin’s dad parked the van near a picnic table, and everyone jumped out.

“Oh, what a pretty lake!” Justin’s mom exclaimed. “It’s so clear and glassy.”

“C’mon Jessie! Let’s go to the water,” said Justin. He picked up a rock and threw it into the lake. Tiny ripples spread across the smooth surface of the water. Jessie tossed a rock in, too. Her rock went farther than Justin’s, so they decided to have a contest to see who could throw the farthest.

“Fire’s ready,” called Jessie’s dad. He had built a nice fire in the fire pit, and everyone came and sat down nearby. “I’d like to read about God’s creation from Genesis chapter 1. Then we’re going to see how many things we can find that were created on each day of Creation Week.”

Justin and Jessie listened carefully as Jessie’s dad read from the Bible. They liked games and contests, and this sounded fun.

“Let’s see . . . light and dark were created first, but how do we find that?” Jessie asked.

“Hmmm. Well, there’s light all around us. But over there under the trees, it’s dark and shady.”

“Yay! We found something for Day One already. What about Day Two?”

“Oh, that’s easy, just look up,” Justin laughed. “The sky is up there.”

“And water below, does the lake count?” asked Jessie.

“Sure it does,” said her dad. “How about we go on a hike and find some more things?”

Justin and Jessie grabbed their water bottles and followed Jessie’s dad on the path into the woods.

“Wow! There’s a lot out here that counts for Day Three. That’s when God made the plants.”

“Ah! But not the thorns!” said Jessie as a thorny branch snagged her sleeve. “Help!”

“Whoa! You’re right, Pumpkin. God didn’t make thorns until after sin came in.” Jessie’s dad carefully pulled the branch away from Jessie so she could escape without getting scratched.

“Check out this humongous tree!” exclaimed Justin.

They all looked up . . . and up . . . and up—the tree was enormous. It was so tall—they couldn’t even see the top! Justin almost fell over backwards trying to look up so high!

“That’s a Day Three thing, too, right Dad?” asked Jessie.

“Yep. What else can you find from Day Three?”

Jessie and Justin raced down the path to find more plants.

“Look! A white flower! And a mushroom!”

“Here’s a blackberry bush!”

“That’s great,” laughed Jessie’s dad. “How about Day Four? What did God make on that day?”

“Oh, I remember,” said Jessie. “God made the sun, moon, and stars. But we can’t see the moon and stars right now.”

“But the sun is up there.” Justin squinted as he looked up.

“Yay! We’ve found a lot. Let’s do Days Five and Six now. I see a bird right there . . . and there . . . and over there!” Jessie pointed at the birds as she spotted them.

“And there’s a squirrel climbing that tree!” Justin said as he watched the busy, furry creature jump from branch to branch.

“Oh! And a bunny,” Jessie whispered as she watched the little brown rabbit scamper away.

“Yikes! And a bee is attacking me!” shouted Justin as he jumped away from the bumblebee that buzzed around his head. Jessie and her dad laughed as Justin took off running down the path.

By the time they caught up to Justin, the three of them had gone all the way around the trail and were back at the lake.

“I wonder if we can see some swimming creatures in the lake.”

Jessie and Justin ran to the edge of the water. Suddenly, Justin’s dad let out a whoop as he reeled in a wriggling fish on his fishing line.

“God made fish!” Justin and Jessie said together. They laughed as the fish squirmed and splashed Justin’s dad in the face.

“Ha! Gotcha,” he said. He carefully removed the hook then held the fish up for the kids to see.

“Nice one, Dad!” Justin exclaimed.

Justin’s dad smiled proudly, but then the fish wriggled suddenly and slipped out of his hands.

“Whoa! No, no!” he yelled as he tried to catch it in midair. But it was too late, the fish plopped into the water and quickly escaped.

“It doesn’t look like he wanted to join us for dinner,” Jessie’s dad joked.

“He didn’t want to BE dinner,” Jessie added.

“Good thing we have hot dogs,” said Justin.

Soon everyone was gathered around the fire. As Justin and Jessie turned their hot dogs round and round over the flames, they noticed a chipmunk sneaking around the food table.

“Hey! Another Day Six animal—God made chipmunks,” said Jessie.

“Yeah, but he’s trying to steal our dinner!” shouted Justin.

“Off you go,” said Justin’s mom as she shooed the chipmunk away. “And what was the other creation on Day Six, Justin?”

“Umm. Oh, yeah! People,” Justin grinned at everyone sitting around the fire.

“And that’s the last thing,” said Jessie.

“Yeah, we found all kinds of things God created on each day,” said Justin as he squirted ketchup on his hot dog. “But what about hot dogs?” he wondered as he took a big bite.