Artistic Impressions

Sys LOVES to draw.  She draws everything--places, animals, entire scenes of people.  I love to see her draw.

Yesterday, she was drawing a picture.  She told me that it was a picture of me--clearly because of the crazy curly brown hair the girl had!  Tattooed Preacherman and I were admiring her picture when Ry approached. 

"Is that Mommy?" she asked.

"Yes"  Sys replied.

Followed by Ry's response:  "Mommy, you look like a cat."

Thoughts on Heaven

Today I got into a discussion with my sweet and serious girl about heaven.  It started with her just pretend playing and transitioned to her processing her thoughts aloud and then transitioned again into a discussion with me.  It was delightful to hear her thoughts.

Theology is a tough topic, one that we don't shy away from in our house.  While we don't have all the answers, we try to offer up thoughts and biblically based wisdom for our girls.  They ask some hard questions sometimes--ones that theological scholars wrestle with; ones that churches split over.

Today, Sys was trying to imagine what it might be like when Jesus returns and when heaven comes down to earth.  Here are some of her thoughts:

• I think that maybe the angels will cook for us.

• When we get to heaven, I think there will be gates.  When we get to them, we will have to tell them all our sins.  After we get inside the gate, God is going to give us a big hug.

• Mommy, will you get there before I do?

• I'm sure I won't ever be hungry or tired or scared.  (This is based off of some things in Max Lucado's book Just In Case You Ever Wonder.)

She is thinking hard.  She makes me think hard.  I love to listen to her process these things.  I can't wait to see what heaven is like myself.

I do hope that the angels will cook for me.....at least once!  I bet it would be delicious.

Sleeping feet

It's always a strange experience when your feet fall asleep.  You know what I mean?  You're just sitting there with your feet tucked up under you and you don't even realize that you are cutting off all that good blood flow to the two body parts that help you hold up all of the rest of you.  Then you move and you feel it.  That strange sensation of blood returning to give life to your feet.

I never really gave that sensation much thought.  But then my girls discovered it.  It was a sensation that was completely new to them.  How did they describe it?

Sys:  "My foot feels all sandy."

Ry:  "My foot is buzzing like a phone."

Sandy?  Buzzing like a phone?  My descriptions are never that cute!!

Happy Endings

Life can be serious.  Not everything is funny.  Sometimes things need to be remembered that don't make you laugh.  Those things often give great insight into how someone processes things.

It is Easter weekend.  We have spent a lot of time talking about the reason we celebrate Easter.  Lots of talk of death and pain and love and life.  My girls get this.  They understand well that Jesus died on a cross.  They get that it was painful.  They feel the sadness.  They also get that after Jesus ALLOWED himself to die, he was resurrected.  They know that resurrection means that he came back to life.

I have put off reading the story to them out of their bible.  The main reason is that I have trouble reading it without getting all choked up.  Their bible tells the story so gently, but doesn't leave out the sadness.  It's a beautiful story.  Last night, they asked for the story.  Insisted upon it.  So we read.

We read about the last supper.  We read about Jesus washing their dirty feet.  We read about Judas.  We read about Peter trying to protect Jesus.  We read about Jesus wearing a crown of thorns.  We read about him getting whipped.  We read about his sadness while he was up on the cross.  We read about him DYING up on the cross.  We read about him being placed in a tomb and about the sealing of the tomb with a heavy stone.

I was prepared to stop there.  The girls know the rest of the story, but I was prepared to save the reading of that for today.

Sys couldn't handle it.  Her sweet, tender heart needed to HEAR that Jesus came alive again.  She needed to hear right then that the tomb was empty.  She needed to hear that Mary Magdalene rejoiced when she heard Jesus say her name.  She needed to hear that he was ALIVE again!

She needed to hear the happy ending.

Without Him, without the cross......there's nothing but a sad story.

Here's to a happy ending.  Here's to life eternal because of Jesus.