Conversations

Just conversations with the boys that I don't want to forget ...

1. With Jonah a few days ago:
He crawled into my lap near bedtime. No reason that I could think, he suddenly says, "Mommy, I don't really like it when you speak madly to me." Well, when do I speak madly to you, Jonah? "When I hit my brother." When you hit your brother? "Yes, when I get angry at him, and sometimes I accidentally hit him, and then you speak madly to me ... and that makes me sad, Mommy." at which point he looks up at me with big Bambi eyes. Well, Jonah, Mommy doesn't mean to react with anger, but sometimes when you and Reuben have been fighting and one of you gets hit, Mommy does get frustrated. "Well, when I hit Reuben, I would rather you tell me sweetly not to do that again".
I did apologize to boy for reacting with anger: it's true, lately, especially through those sick weeks of late, I probably did have more frustration expressed during those moments: but we also had to discuss that if he does hit his brother, discipline must follow.

2. Reuben

The other day, we were in the kitchen, and he suddenly stops, looks at the fridge intently, and exclaims: "There's Jesus!" Yes, there Jesus was: a Children's Church coloring page held up by a magnet so that Jonah could work on his memory verse. And he sighed, and calmly added, "And Jesus is always watching over me."

I hope this sticks with him! My little guy has struggled the past two months with being scared at bedtime, though we now have two night lights, plus the boys share their room ... but we often hear him crying before he has fallen asleep because something has scared him. Lots of reassurance that we are here in the house, that Jesus is always watching over him ... and prayer that he will find Security (SO MUCH like me! I was always the one getting my dad up in the middle of night, always scared of "things" coming to get me in bed ... argh).

3. Jonah's musings
We were driving to youth group, and he suddenly asked me what Jesus looked like. I explained that we weren't really sure: there were no cameras back then, and it was so long ago that we don't actually know anyone that actually met Jesus in person. People make guesses ... and he asked if Jesus had light or dark skin. I asked him why back. "Well, I just wondered ..." and digressed about friends of ours with dark skin and wondering if Jesus was like them, or like him.
We finally agreed that it will be so exciting to meet Jesus in heaven and see what he really looks like! Jonah was smiling and gazing out the window. "Mom, we will get to fly in heaven." Yes, we probably will get to do that, it will be amazing to live in heaven! "And Mom, guess what? When I am with Jesus in heaven, we will go HYPERSPEED together!"