A Kate Story

          The other day Kate and I walked to the neighborhood park together, which we don't do nearly enough. Along the way, we stopped to pick a dandelion. I explained how you make a wish and blow the wisps away. When she couldn't blow them off the stem, I let her pick them off. Then I broke the "no tell" rule and asked her what her wish was. You know what she said?

"I wished I can see God."

 

Her name means "pure one."

Do you remember what Matthew 5:8 tells us? "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Looks like Kate has a good chance of her wish coming true.

Now I'm the one blown away.

Learning Gratitude Together

"...giving thanks to God our Father for everything..."

{joining with the boys this morning to praise God}

Noah:
1. Lego Star Wars
2. food
3. clean water
4. the Wii
5. our family
6. air
7. getting my lightsabre back after it was stolen
8. silly brothers
9. cute Kate
10. hugging Mom
11. wrestling with Dad
12. sleeping in the dark
13. the cabin we rented in Tennessee, "The Apple Basket"
14. going to Disneyworld
15. dinosaurs
16. sharks
17. going to the Georgia Southern Museum with Mr. Kent
18. exploring the woods
19. camping
20. drawing

Baker:

1. geting to go to Disneyworld
2. that Mom takes the time to throw birthday parties for us
3. the bigscreen TV
4. that I have brothers and a sister to play with
5. camping
6. that I get to play basketball at the Y
7. that Dad said I did better in the last game
8. my clothes
9. our bunkbeds
10. that we're homeschooled because I'd go crazy in regular school

Jacob:

1. getting to go to Disneyworld
2. the family
3. that Kate is cute
4. the Bible
5. fresh water

Jacob's Song

I don't have the tune. It was a wonderful tune, sung very rambly and heartfelt, but it is forgotten. What I did make sure to write down were the lyrics, at least one verse of them. Here's Jacob's song to Kate:

Kate, you're a cutie

And you'll be a cutie 'til you die

When you die you'll be amazed by God

God is a lovely Person

She enjoyed her song very much. Kate responds well to Jacob. Something about him always makes Kate smile. I know it, too. He's a very special boy.

Pure Love

Most of the time our boys pray the same thing: Thank you prayers. For the day, for mom and dad and brothers, for baby, for food...

But lately Noah's prayers have been ending differently. He's been erupting into loving praise. Here are some of the things he's said:

I love you, God, very, very much. More than anything or any human.
Thank you especially for you and everything you love, and you love everything.
Thank you that you're mighty and can do anything you want.
I could never forget you.
You are my hero.

These are sweet moments between a five year old and the Lord. I know they touch His heart; they sure touch mine.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

He asked me tonight if he knew everything about God. "No, you don't," I said, "I don't even know everything." Noah: "Will you teach me everything you do know?" I told him that was my job as his mother. Whew, the calling is a high one, isn't it?

This child loves God. I pray that I can shepherd his little heart into a deep, trusting relationship with Jesus. I pray that as he grows he is protected from false doctrine and spiritual deception. I pray that his love for God continues to deepen and that the things of this world will continue to pale incomparison to His glorious Light.

Friends, pray with me. And pray that he can influence his more pragmatic brothers toward a passion for the Lord. Pray that his more pragmatic brothers can influence him to a steadfast faith undisturbed by circumstances.

We Span the Ages

Burying my face into the sweetness of your neck,

I hold you, and seeds, and faces and future I may never live to behold.

You giggle, your little fingers grabbing my cheek,

reaching back to seize a past and voices and ancestors you’ll never know.

Laying here together, we span the ages.

My thanks to Ann Voskamp for these beautiful sentiments

Childhood

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it. ~George Eliot

Overheard at Our House Today

Noah: Moooom, how much longer til I can go back to heaven? I really want to see God! Do you think He'll give me a hug?

Me: That's the first thing He'll do when you get there!

{Noah smiles}

Cutie-pie Noah Strikes Again!

We have a running joke in our family that Noah is a carnivore because he loves to eat meat. The other day I laid down with him for a nap and he was being especially cuddly and said,

"Mom, I'm not a carnivore anymore; I'm a lover, because I love loving on you."

Another Noah Prayer- A Grateful Heart

We had a wonderful God-filled day yesterday. We began with our Bible story about Noah's Ark, and Baker was so into it that he made me read them 5 chapters instead of one! Then at lunch Noah made us pray before we ate and I noticed that I almost never have to remind them to pray before eating anymore. They usually make sure it happens on their own. At bedtime, Noah asked me if angels were bigger than God and that sparked this incredible talk about how big God is, how special we are to Him, and how He's with us everywhere because of the Holy Spirit. I wish you all could have seen the amazement on this child's face as I told him about the Lord. I said goodnight and left, but lingered outside the door, feeling so blessed to be able to raise children that know God's love for them. Then, Noah began:

"Dear God, Thank you for my family. Thank you for my mom. She's the bestest-- she tells me all about You! And I really, really love You."

He didn't stop there... he counted his blessings for another couple of minutes. But those first few words of thanks to God for me will stick with me forever. I'll probably be clinging to them during the tough times ahead in this journey called parenting. I'm so thankful to God for my children They really are blessings!

And, by the way, that grateful heart Noah showed in his prayer last night has stuck with him all day. He has told me thank you so many times today I lost count. How wonderful to be thanked for every little small thing I do for an entire day!

Noah's Prayers: Childlike Faith

I'm sorry I haven't been posting that frequently. I've been going through a very uninspired month. Maybe I'm just too busy. So I'll let Noah be my writer.

His prayers for the past two nights:

1) "Hi God! I really love you! But WHY did you let Adam and Eve eat the fruit? Why did you tell them 'no'? Maybe they can come here because we have a lot of stuff and I really, really love Eve. In Jesus' name, Amen."

2) This night we were at the beach after dark and he saw the light shining around the moon and excitedly told me, "Mom! I see God's light! I can really talk to him now!" And then he said, "Hi God! I really, really love you! One day could you throw down the moon? I really want to touch it! Amen."

Old Cat, New Cat

Well, it happened. Our cat Thomas got sick and died. We found him next to our front steps on Saturday. Baker and Noah were reasonably upset, but it wasn't heartbreaking or anything. Ben dug a hole in the backyard and put Thomas in a box down in the hole while the boys and I watched from the window. I never thought about how weird that must seem to someone who's never seen that before... why on earth would you put someone in the ground? So we talked about "dust to dust." I asked them each to say something nice about our cat and Baker, who was crying real tears, said, "He was a good cat and I loved him a lot." Noah, who was genuinely blue but playing it up majorly, said, "I'll miss his 'meows'." Then he made one of those nasty little comments evil-geniously designed to push the buttons of the listener (Baker). He said, "Mom, how many minutes until Kong dies? I want zero pets." Of course this upset Baker, who hadn't thought of the possibilty of his dog dying, too. But then Noah was back to "I love cats like Thomas!" And Baker wanted a new cat immediately.

Sooooo, our friends are moving away tomorrow and can't take their cat with them. His name is Bandit, he's older, fat, and lazy. He's beautiful, black and white with green eyes. Bandit needed a home and we needed a cat. So we brought him home today, and the boys have smiles again.

Thinking vs. Wondering

I have to write about what Baker said the other day. I was laying down with him in the afternoon for nap time, hoping to get a little rest. But he was being silly and wiggly and could not stop talking about engines (Thomas the tank engine and friends). I told him he had to try to stop thinking about engines, close his eyes and go to sleep. He said, " I'm not thinking, I'm wondering." Intrigued, I asked him what the difference was. He told me," Wondering is when I have one big box with a picture inside it in my head. Thinking is when I have six smaller boxes with pictures at the same time."

Whoa. Um, ok, Baker...

His Kindergarten Graduation is tonight. I'll write about it tomorrow.