Goin’ to Heaven — Can’t Wait

I’m goin’ to Heaven, can’t wait.
Gonna see Jesus, can’t wait.
Heaven is wonderful, bright and fair,
Praise the Lord I’m goin’ there.

I’ll be there forever, can’t wait.
Gonna leave never, can’t wait.
And I know I’ll not be late,
’cause I’m goin’ to heaven,
and I can’t wait.

This is a song we sang in Sunday school at the church I went to when I was a small child. I thought of it yesterday during our church’s women’s Bible study. We are studying 1 Cor ch 15, and we were discussing the resurrection and how important it is to the truth of the Gospel and to our understanding of eternal life.

When I was little, I remember asking some adult in my life if it was ok that I wasn’t that excited about going to heaven. While the chorus we were singing made heaven sound pretty nice, I was feeling pretty good about life here on earth–hoping to experience more of it as an adult.

Over the past 10 years or so, as I have become more and more of the power and importance of the resurrection of Christ and the eventual resurrection of our earthly bodies from the dead, I realize that our hope of eternal life is much more real or tangible. It makes so much more sense to me to think of eternal life meaning we will eventually be corporal people again and enjoy life with God in its fullest sense.

The Big Purple Dinosaur is My Friend

We own several Barney videos. Before Mark and I had children, we despised Barney. We chuckled along with all the cool people about how stupid Barney is. Then we had a baby. We didn’t actually buy our first Barney video; someone at our church in Washington passed their copies onto us when their son outgrew them. However, Calvin was already primed to receive them with glee; he had already watched Barney almost daily for a few months since these were the days when Barney was still on PBS. Oh the many happy hours Calvin and then Nevin and Evangeline spent singing and dancing along with that silly big purple dinosaur! After having children and needing an opportunity to load the washing machine, clean the bathroom, or just to sit down for 30 minutes, the Big Purple Dinosaur became a valued friend.

Now that our 3 older children have nearly outgrown Barney’s charms, I thought it might be time to include the Barney videos in our upcoming yard sale. But alas, Charis has now come under Barney’s spell. She isn’t really interested in a lot of tv. She is happier playing (which of course is a good thing). But there are times–particularly when I am trying to homeschool the older children–that it is nice to have an electronic babysitter to occupy her. Up until about 3 weeks ago, she would only watch something for 10 minutes or so. Then Barney spun his magic over her. Now she asks for Barney. She choooses a favorite from our extensive collection. At last, I am able to get 30 minute blocks of time carved out for some needed activity.

Oh. And this has also solved the dllemma over what kind of cake to make for her 2nd birthday.

The Big Purple Dinosaur is my friend. And, I am not ashamed to admit it.

June is Busting out All Over

March went out like a lion, a whipping up the water in the bay.
Then April sighed, and stepped aside, and along came pretty little May.
May was full of promises, but she couldn’t keep ’em quick enough for some.
And a bunch of doubting Thomases kept predicting that the summer’d never come.
But it’s coming by gum. I can feel it come.
Loook around, look around, look around.

June is busting out all over–all over the meadow and the hill.
Buds are busting out of bushes and the little river pushes every little wheel that wheels behind a mill.

Because it’s June. June. June. June.

Just because it’s June, June, June! –from the musical Carousel.

Well, it’s not June yet, but March has left us and April is a third over. Spring is here in all its glory, and I am thankful for the warm temperatures, the green grass–even if it must be mowed, and for the hope of summer. Before we know it, June will be busting out all over.