Questions

Right around Easter time, Bear asked a very interesting question. He said, "When Judas died, did the disciples go from 13 to 12 or 12 to 11?" This question blew me away because I had never thought about this before.

Bear loves our devotion reading time at night before bed. We have a new devotion book that we just bought the children for Easter. Before getting this one, we had been using a devotional book called God and Me which seems geared for children 3 years old and up. Bug uses this one now which means we have two different devotions to fit in each night. I'm not complaining but the nighttime jobs are tough on my patience sometimes. I'm usually tired and hungry and sometimes I feel like they want just a little more, just a little more, just a little more of me than I have left to give at 9:00 at night. I told Lou Lou that the spot on the floor right in the middle of her door must be a magic spot, because every time I step on it on my way to somewhere else, she says, "Mama." We laughed so hard about that, and I would try to "leap" out of her room to see if I could avoid the spot, but somehow she knew just when to say "Mama" and get me back in there for one more question, request, hug, or kiss. Again, it's not that I mind, but I'm just exhausted and not as patient as I want to be sometimes.

Anyway, the new devotion book is 365 Bible stories. It goes more in-depth into a variety of Bible stories, rather than just sticking to the traditional Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, baby Jesus, etc. It has no life application section, which leaves this part open for discussion. Bear is very much into it and we usually read about 3-4 days every night because it is just so interesting to him, Lou Lou, and me.

Tonight's devotion was about King Solomon worshipping other gods and how the 12 tribes of Israel were split into 10 and 2 under Jeroboam and Rehoboam. If you're reading this and you feel lost, so would I had I not been reading along in this wonderful kid's devotion book. Anyway, what I got out of tonight's devotion was that Rehoboam did not consult with God before making a decision and things did not go so well for him. I pointed this out to the twins and told them that God can see the big picture and we need to talk to Him about all of our decisions. Bear immediately said, "But how do you know what God's answer is if you can't hear Him talk?" Again, I was struck by his question. Jimmy and I both started trying to talk to him about this. Bear said, "So whatever you're feeling is what God wants you to do." We said not necessarily. It was difficult to answer his question and wonderful that he was concerned about such things. I said, "Prayer is our way to communicate with God. By reading His Word, he communicates back with us." We finished our devotion with our prayer time, and Jimmy and I both prayed for guidance on answering tough questions like these and others that will come up.

After all of this reading and discussion and prayer (and many yawns by me), we say, "Amen" and then Bear says, "Mama, we've got to read our Bible story out of my Bible." We got the twins new Bibles recently. These are the NIrV, which stands for New International Reader's Version. This is the NIV on a third grade reading level. Bear's latest passion is Moses. He wants to know everything there is to know about Moses. The daycare director mentioned this to me the other day. Bear had drawn a picture of Moses that had caught her eye. His picture had Moses with a staff in his hand and several small faces in the background showing the Israelite people following him out of Egypt. Anyway, because it was way past our normal bedtime, I would have told Bear no on almost anything else, such as a library book, a nighttime snack, etc., but I don't feel good about saying no to more Bible. It's like Bear has an unquenchable thirst for learning about God and His people. Tonight, as Bear was asking questions, the Holy Spirit was with us and in us. His excitement about things of God makes me want to commit to daily renew myself in God's Word.

On a lighter note, Lou Lou has strep throat. Thankfully, her throat and rash looked a certain way enough so that the doctor didn't have to give her the strep test. The good thing about her being sick is that our trip to the doctor and Target for medicine gave us a chance to spend time alone together. We laughed and talked and had the best time.

While I was on the phone tonight with BeBe (a friend from church), Bug kept calling my name. She didn't sound frantic so I kept talking, figuring she'd come get me soon. When I hung up the phone, I walked up to her room. She was bundled up in her Pooh Bear blanket and was fluttering her eyes as if she was trying to keep them shut. She definitely did not know I was in the room. I leaned over to kiss her and she rolled over. She said, "Mama, I want to show you sometihng. This book is about Jesus." It was a Jesus Loves Me book which we've read numerous times. I told her I liked her book and then she laid back down. She looked up at me and said, "Mama, you woke me up." I thought this was the cutest thing coming from a 2-year old. I said I was sorry, kissed her again, and left her room.