Happy long weekend!

Hope you had a great Labor Day! We really enjoyed being off of work and school. They had a big carnival at our church and Daniel had fun playing games, eating ice cream, jumping in the inflatables, sliding down the water slide, and just having a great time. Way better than a day at school!

He has also started soccer at church. We thought we would try out all of the different sports to see what he would like. He had his first game on Saturday and I am not sure who was more excited about it - Daniel or Pop! He did really well. Some of the kids on his team have been playing soccer since 3 years old and they really know a lot about the game. Daniel was not timid (imagine that!) and jumped right in there, chased the ball, kicked the ball AND kept his hands to himself. YAY! (I was worried that in an aggressive situation we could be setting him up for a problem but so far, so good!) His team is the hornets. It was cute - he kept looking over at me and my folks to make sure we were cheering him on. How special for him to have people in his corner and rooting for him. We whooped and cheered our hearts out!

And I have to share with you a very special conversation I had with Daniel. Last Thursday morning I was making breakfast (and making lunch, making snack, folding laundry, signing papers, you know how crazy those school mornings are!) and Daniel was sitting on the floor putting on his shoes and he says to me, 'Mom, Kaytlyn at school said that Jesus died on the cross up on a big hill. No, he did not!'

Well, I immediately stopped what I was doing and sat down with him and said, 'Yes, Jesus did die on the cross on a big hill. That's right." "But mom," he says, "you said the cross at school." I had to clear up a bit of confusion that they do have a cross at school and it reminds us that Jesus died for us on the cross, but Jesus didn't die on that actual cross at school. He died on a cross on a big hill far away from here.

Once we cleared that up I said, "Do you know why Jesus died on the cross?"

No Mom - why?

Because he loves us very much! You know, all of the wrong things that we do and bad choices that we make, those are called Sins. And, to pay for our sins God said that we would have to go to Hell when we die. Do you know what Hell is?

No Mom - what?

Hell is where the Devil lives. There is fire everywhere there and the people there are very unhappy. But because we sin and do the wrong thing, we would have to go to Hell when we die to pay for our sin. We don't want to go there, do we?

No Mom!

Well, Jesus doesn't want us to go there either. And He loves us sooooo much, that He died on the cross to pay for our sins. He didn't have any sin, He is perfect. But He loves us and doesn't want us to go to Hell so He died for us. So anyone who accepts Him and loves Him and receives what He has done for us, can have the gift of going to Heaven when they die. We could go to Heaven and be with Jesus.

Mom - we don't want to go to the Devil's house!

Then we got distracted talking about the Devil's house and what it's like there and then moved on to other topics but I was so amazed. He sat right there with me and hung on my every word. We talked about it for a good while. I don't know how much he really understood, but just the fact that he is asking the questions is so HUGE! What a moment! This has been my prayer from the beginning, that Daniel would come to know Christ at a young age. WOW - I didn't expect it this soon.

Then at school I talked to his teacher about it. She told me that all of the kids have a Young Reader Bible in their desks and when they have free time they are allowed to get it out. Daniel flipped right to the page with a picture of Jesus on the cross and came to her and asked what it was. WOW! He is asking and wants to know. I am just so moved. I cried all the way to work that morning. What an answer to prayer!!! I know we will have many more conversations about it before he understands enough to make a decision, but I am just beside myself with excitement that he is asking the questions. Thank you Lord! I know I shouldn't be amazed when God answers prayers, but to see it happen right before my very eyes is so moving. My prayer is that the Lord will give me exactly the right words to help him understand and to not overlook those teachable moments. Woo hoo - what a blessing!!!