Evangeline on the death and resurrection of Jesus

I have a friend who often tells me to write down the things that my kids say and do. One thing that this blog has given me is a forum for doing that. I have in no way written about every funny or interesting thing that my children have done, but having the blog has been something of a motivator for me to record a few of the more interesting kid stories. As you might have guessed, I have a new one to share.

Our children are attending VBS at the local United Methodist Church this week. The boys attended VBS there last summer, and they enjoyed it. This year, all three are old enough to go. After I brought them home today, Evangeline (3) climbed up on my lap. She said, “Mommy, I don’t want to die.”

I said, “Did you talk about someone dying in Bible school today?”

She said, “Yes.”

I said, “Who died?”

She said, “Jesus.”

I said, “Yeah, but what happened to Jesus after he died on the cross?”

She said, “He come alive again.”

I said, “What happens to us when we die?”

She said, “We come alive again too.”

I said, “Yes, we will come alive again some day. And, we don’t need to worry about dying, because God takes care of us.”

It was so wonderful to me that she understood (at least in some child-like way) that Jesus died and then rose again. From the expression on her face, I could tell she was putting a lot of thought into this conversation.

birthday

Well, Sunday was my birthday. I am another year older. 37 to be exact. Mark is 2.5 years my junior, and he said since we are one, I could have his age. I really appreciated the offer. But I guess I will have to own up to all of my 37 years.

I had a great birthday. First, my mother-in-law celebrated her birthday 11 days before mine and she and my father-in-law took our whole family out for lunch. They said it was to celebrate Mom’s birthday and to begin celebrating the “12 days of my birthday.” I like this concept. I am actually planning on using it on both sides of my birthday, making it actually “the 24 days of my birthday.”

On Sunday, my actual birthday, I had a nice day as well. The boys were so cute about it. Nevin, our 4-year-old, came into our room on Sunday morning and said, “Happy Birthday,” with no prompting from anyone. This was a first for him. Then after church, Mark’s parents came for lunch. They brought leftovers from their place, so I didn’t have to cook. They also brought a cake that Mom made. Very nice. Before we ate, the children and Mark were getting their presents together. Nevin kept saying, “I got a present for you, but it’s a secret.” Calvin would say things like, “Nevin, you’re not supposed to say anything.” Evangeline kept coming to the kitchen and grabbing my hand to take me to the living room to open my presents, even though they weren’t quite ready. When the moment finally arrived, they were thrilled. I was touched because they each picked out something when they went shopping with Daddy. The card Calvin gave me was the first one I got from him where he wrote all the words of greeting himself. It is fun to have a birthday just to watch the kids. Of course, the next day, Nevin said, “My birthday’s next, right?” Which, it is. But it is not until October. Evangeline came in on Monday and said, “Is Nevin’s birthday today?”

On Sunday night, Mom and Dad watched the kids after church, and Mark and I went out to dinner at Charleston’s. It’s a sort of nostalgic place to us. We used to go to a sister restaurant called Houston’s in Ft. Lauderdale before we were married. It was a nice way to close my actual birthday.

Keeping with the concept of “the 12 days of my birthday” my mother-in-law took me and my closest Minco friend out to lunch on Monday. We also dallied a bit at a nearby antique mall. It was a pleasant afternoon.

Today is sort of the “let-down” day, as I know I really can’t celebrate my birthday for 12 days after my birthday. But when I think about how much I enjoyed myself over the weekend and yesterday, I am really thankful for a wonderful family and for marrying a man with great parents to be my in-laws who treat me as if I am their real daughter.

A 6-year-old’s comment after a sermon on predestination

Mark started a sermon series on Ephesians a week ago. Yesterday, he was preaching on Ephesians 1:3-12. It wasn’t really an expositional sermon, but a sort of overview of the doctrine of predestination. I sit with all 3 of our children during worship. Some who read this might think that children should act like little adults in church, and they should never be given external things to do, etc. I am not of that mindset. (Of course, if they started acting like little adults in church next week, I wouldn’t complain). I try to teach them to sit still when others are sitting still, to sing when others sing, respond when others respond, etc. But it isn’t an easy task. Yesterday, I resorted to giving them each a little bag with sweet tarts and jelly fruits during the sermon. It kept them still for about half of the sermon, so that wasn’t too bad. However, my boys seemed to be especially wiggly during the whole service.

When the service was over, my oldest son who is 6, said, “Mom, I am sorry I disobeyed during the service.” I said, “I forgive you Calvin, but if you are really sorry, you will do better next week.” He replied, “Ok, Mom, but it was in God’s plan for me to be disobedient.” I said, “Well, I guess at least you listened to some of Dad’s sermon.”