love and statues

We're at the lake, and boy, do I love the lake! The boys and I have been here all week, and let me tell you, it's been a good week. We've been going for walks, going for boat rides, relaxing, playing outside, riding our trikes, getting a tan and visiting with family and friends.
The boys love their "boppa" (grandpa) and they also love St. Francis. Weird. I know.
For those of you that may not be Catholic, St. Francis is the patron saint of animals and the environment. My dad received a statue of St. Francis that is also a birdbath for a gift from teaching confirmation classes for many years at church. The statue/birdbath is in the middle of their backyard. It's weathered and recently suffered some destruction when on Mother's Day the twins were running around the yard wielding sticks and knocked a bird right off St. Francis' shoulder (a plastic bird - not real). So began the relationship with the statue of the saint.
I made the boys apologize to the statue for hurting it (me trying to be a mother who teaches compassion - also to distract them so I could take away their sticks which were on the way to poking out an eyeball).
Now when we go outside, we have to go up to the statue and kiss his head, the squirrel on his shoulder and the fawn on his lap (which the boys yell "puppy!!" at and bark at - we're not getting into all that right now).
So, St. Francis, sorry for your shoulder, sorry for dumping you over to get the water out of the birdbath, sorry for the spit on your head. Forgive us in Jesus' name. Amen.
We'll try to keep a safe distance.