Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

So we're wrapping up May, and I haven't blogged all month.  Between wrapping up our school year and all the special activities that entails, and often feeling almost like a single parent while Matt worked a turnaround this month, there just hasn't been ANY time to sit down and reflect on everything that's been happening.  It's not my favorite when life is THIS busy... but I am an introvert!  I'm also a perfectionist.  Right now, I have a nice, long list of topics that I don't want to forget to blog about, even though I haven't had time to do cover these things as they happened... recital, children's choir, cubbies, finishing up our first year of homeschooling, etc.  It totally goes against the grain of my perfectionism to write about something that's NOT ON MY LIST before covering that things that ARE on my list, but I'm doing it anyway.  Because something happened, totally out of the blue, that really touched my heart, and I want to share it while it's still fresh on my mind.

At bedtime, we take turns tucking the kids in.  One night, I'll tuck Grayson into bed and Matt tucks Harrison in.  The next night we switch.  Harrison still gets rocked before laying down in his crib, and Grayson always wants somebody to lay down with him for a little while before he actually goes to sleep.  He doesn't have any trouble actually falling asleep alone, but he wants that snuggle time beforehand.  I read somewhere recently, (probably on another blog), not to rush bedtime with your kids, no matter how exhausted you are, because often that's when they'll have their heart-to-heart talks with you... clean and pajamaed (is that a word??), relaxed and sleepy, and probably the most still they have been since climbing out of bed that morning, it makes for great talking time.  I admit that when I am totally exhausted from a long day and I know there's more on my to-do list before I can go to bed myself, it is sometimes tempting to rush them off to sleep.  But I try really hard to resist!  Lately, during our bedtime snuggle conversations, Grayson often ends up asking me all sorts of questions about Jesus, Bible stories, etc.  I have learned a lot about how he thinks, just from these bedtime conversations.  Among other things, I've learned that he's bummed that Adam and Eve sinned.  His main reasons are (1) he could obey much better if he hadn't inherited a sin nature, and (2) insects wouldn't bite/sting him in a world without sin.  I think that's pretty deep for 5 years old.

Last night, it was my turn to tuck Grayson into bed, and I was all ready to find out where the conversation would go!  But it turned out Grayson was a little preoccupied last night.  He had misplaced a toy helicopter that morning.  It's a giraffe-print helicopter that he got at the zoo a couple years ago and he particularly likes this helicopter.  Although he'd been looking all over the house all day long, he still had not found it.  I had tried to help him remember where he played with it last and where he may have left it, but to no avail.  The giraffe helicopter was MIA, despite our best efforts.  He climbed into bed saying "I didn't find my helicopter.  I just looked everywhere and I still didn't find my giraffe helicopter."  It hit me that this was a great time to teach him that God cares about even the little things in his life.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

                                                                              I Peter 5:7

So before Grayson's bedtime prayer, I suggested that he talk to God about his missing helicopter.  Because we can talk to God about anything - big or small, he hears them all.  Grayson's prayer was short and sweet, but he asked God to please help him find his giraffe helicopter tomorrow.  Once he had talked to God about it, he stopped his fretting and constant questions about his helicopter's location.

This morning, as usual, our resident early bird was awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed, while I was groggily resisting the morning.  But then Grayson said something that woke me up quickly!  He said "God found my helicopter for me!"  Already??  Where was it??  Apparently, as Grayson climbed out of his bed this morning, he noticed his toy toolbox, which sits on his bedside table, was slightly out of place.  He went to push it back into place, but it wouldn't go.  He picked it up, to see why it wouldn't go, and there was his helicopter!!  

Even though I know God cares about us, even the little details, it's always so wonderful to see such an obvious answer to prayer.  To me this was a beautiful picture of how much God loves us, to see Him answer Grayson's prayer, and show him where that helicopter was hiding!  What an awesome reminder, if the Creator of the universe took the time to listen to a 5-year-old boy ask where his favorite helicopter was hiding, He's probably got time to listen to me and you too.  Nothing is too small to pray about, nothing is too big to pray about.  It might not be answered in the timing that we wanted, or maybe the answer isn't exactly what we wanted, but He's listening, He cares, and He answers.  He already knows what's on our mind anyway, but He wants us to share it with Him.  And He wants us to have faith like a child.  Faith like Grayson had last night, that God would find his helicopter for him and he could stop worrying about where it was.  Faith that Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

He called a little child and had him stand among them.  

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, 

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

                                                                          Matthew 18:2-3

After playing with his helicopter for a little while, we sat down to breakfast and Grayson said the blessing.  It went like this:

"Thank you for this wonderful day, God, and thank you for our breakfast, and thank you for helping me find my giraffe helicopter, God.  Amen."

And just like that, another reminder.  How many times do we forget to thank God for answered prayers?  Or just for all the blessings in our lives?  So glad that Grayson thought to thank God for help finding his helicopter, with no prompting from me!  His thankful heart reminds me to be thankful too, just like his prayer reminded me how much God cares about everything in our lives.  Watching Grayson grow continues to be a reminder of what faith like a child looks like.

EASTER!!!

We started a new Easter tradition this year - Resurrection Eggs!  I tried to do the egg like an advent calendar at Christmas... an egg a day until Easter.  That didn't really work out though, because Grayson was so inquisitive and wanted to hear the whole story.  We kept doing an extra egg until we were through the whole thing several days before Easter.  Even though my implementation didn't work out as planned, I was super happy with the Resurrection Eggs.  By Easter, Grayson could (and repeatedly did) tell the whole Easter story, with details I never would have realized a 5 year old was ready for if we weren't working through the story with those eggs.  Even Harrison could tell you the real meaning of Easter this year.  Easter afternoon, after they'd both had lots of candy out of their Easter baskets and had an egg hunt in the backyard, I asked Harrison if he remembered why we have Easter.  He replied "Jesus died da choss...we cedebwate...Jesus ALIVE!!"  I was impressed that he could articulate that much at 2.5, and that he remembered that after stuffing his belly with chocolate!  

The week leading up to Easter, Grayson spontaneously told the Easter story several times, including once when he drew an illustration in the driveway with sidewalk chalk (complete with soldiers and spears) and told me the story totally unprompted.

Easter morning we were up bright and early as usual.  

Took a few Easter pics outside before heading to church, but we were in a bit of a rush!

This next picture is so them... Grayson is the morning person, Harrison is not.  Grayson likes to dress sharp, Harrison did not want to be in that tie.

Checking out their fancy Easter duds...

At church, Grayson was excited to be the first person to put flowers on the cross.  And if you notice their ties hanging out in these pictures, it's because Grayson decided it's better that way... people can see your tie better if it's not tucked into your vest.  It wasn't enough for him to realize this himself, he taught Harrison that he should pull his tie out too.  Thank you, Grayson.

Grayson wanted the purple flowers at the "tippy top" of the cross, like the star on the Christmas tree.

The boys with the flowers they put on the cross.

After church, Grayson was excited he exclaimed "Mommy, Mommy, come see the cross!  It's so beautiful with all the flowers on it!!"  He was even more excited than he had been earlier when he was putting the first flowers on!  And the next Sunday, Harrison wanted to know why the flower-covered cross wasn't there anymore - glad he remembered it!

Family picture after church on Easter...

Caught them holding hands on the way home... so sweet!

Took a couple more pictures in their Easter finery when we got home, but it was way too sunny to get very good ones, plus we were hungry, so not much time or effort went into these!

After lunch, Grayson & Harrison got their Easter baskets.  They were really excited about everything!  I LOVE these pictures!

After they'd ingested an adequate quantity of chocolate and played with their toys for a little while, we headed out for their Easter egg hunt.  Harrison took a few minutes to get the hang of what we were doing.  Consequently, Grayson got the majority of the eggs.  But they both had a blast regardless.  We hid the eggs a second time and Harrison held his own that time.

After a couple eggs hunts and more candy ingestion, we finally got around to dying some eggs.  Both kids thoroughly enjoyed seeing the eggs change colors and Harrison had gotten a little bit better at handling the eggs with care by the time we finished. 

While we were dying eggs, Daddy was grilling hot dogs and turkey-burgers for our supper!!  Yummy finishing touch to the day!

The next day they added stickers to their dyed eggs and also started eating them.  They've both loved picking which color egg to eat, then cracking and peeling the eggs themselves!

They're both still so young that each year every holiday is a completely different experience than the previous year, because they've grown and changed so much since the previous year.  This year was my favorite Easter with the kids so far!  Had such a fabulous family day celebrating the real meaning of Easter, and it was extra special because both boys understood the meaning of Easter as much as they can at these ages.