"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

~Robert Frost







Sunday, April 21, 2013

....SOLD!

Ashley asks out of the blue at the dinner table, "Do animals go to heaven?"
 
I set my fork down slowly, deliberately. I am frantically thinking the prayer with which all experienced parents are uncomfortably familiar. Please, for the love of all things caffeinated, in the next two seconds give me a brilliant answer that satisfies their curiosity without lying or saying too much!! (Why yes, this prayer does apply to everything from the tooth fairy to the birds and the bees, thank you for asking.)
 
And then, as I smiled and opened my mouth to improvise an answer that was sure to leave all of my daughters unsatisfied and possibly in tears, I was cut off by this adorable conversation....

 
 
Ashley: "Do animals go to heaven?"
 
Hannah: "Nope."
 
Bethany: "How do you know?"
 
Hannah: "Because animals don't have souls, and only souls go to heaven."
 
Bethany: "I don't want to be sold to heaven!"
 
Ashley: "But Beth, it's ok to be sold to heaven, because when you get sold to heaven you are really, really expensive. And that's how you know that you are important!"
 
Hannah: "Am I expensive too?"
 
Ashley: "Yes, everybody is. Because it costs all of Jesus for us to be sold to heaven, and that is even more expensive than money, so it's like more than even a king or queen could pay."
 
Bethany: "Because Jesus died. That's how much it costs."
 
Ashley: "Right."
 
Bethany: "Why can't animals be sold to heaven too?"
 
Hannah: "Because they are not expensive enough!"
 
Bethany: "Oh. I see."
 
 
 
And everyone happily continues eating, completely content with their resolution of the question. Parent-prayer answered! And moments like this, when I get to sit back and watch my children embrace this God-given life with curiosity and intelligence and joy? They never, ever, ever get old.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Easter weekend pictures

It's been a full month since my last post and I only have a few minutes for the blog today, but I want to at least get some pictures posted from Easter weekend. It's so rare for us to all be in the same picture, and I love this one....

Crazy happy baby!
And here are a few that my mother-in-law took, and I stole from her facebook page. ;) I don't do as well now as I used to with taking pictures of the girls -- I guess my hands are usually full and I just don't seem to have the camera on hand very often. So I'm glad to be able to borrow these ones. Thanks, Mom!

She's seven months old this week. This is my fourth time through and I still don't know how that happens so quickly.

Speaking of growing up, this picture freaked me out a little! Six years old, going on sixteen....

Um...do they look a little bit crazed and terrifying here??

A friend recently told me that Hannah seems like she'll be a queen bee, and I can see it. Watch out for this angelic looking blond head -- she's going to rule something when she grows up!
My favorite picture of the weekend. LOVE this baby girl.

I keep thinking I'm going to write a post about how Ashley has two loose teeth, and how Katelyn just cut her first tooth and is sitting up now, and how my musical rehearsals are going, and how Lamont took an awesome trip all by himself to Salt Lake City to cheer on the Zags in the NCAA tournament (No. Don't talk about that. *sob*), and how school just started back up for me and I think I may have lost my mind to be taking two classes right now, and how it is finally SPRING and I do a happy dance every time I have to put on my sunglasses in the car, and how absolutely incredible life is....

But instead I just crammed all of those things into the longest run-on sentence ever. And I am off!