Eden and Martin Luther

Last Sunday in church we had a missionary on furlough speak to us.  At one point he began to talk of the return of Christ and what it meant for mission work.  Eden, who was sitting on my lap, turned to me in great excitement and said in a loud whisper, "He said when Jesus come back!"

I said, "Yes, he's talking about when Jesus comes back -- that's right!"

Eden, literally bouncing up and down with excitement, said, "When Jesus come back I get to pet the little baby cheetah!"

We try to talk about the resurrection and return of Christ regularly and often to Z and Eden, and both Nathan and I are thrilled to see how it is affecting the way they understand who Jesus is and who they are in relation to him.  But talking about Jesus coming back can be difficult, because we're not sure what it will look like, and we're not sure how to articulate what will happen.  But going off of Ephesians 3:20, which speak of God as the one "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine", we encourage the kids to think about the New Heavens and the New Earth with a wild imagination.  As far as I'm concerned, anything goes, as long as it's not directly opposed to Scripture or Jesus.  (For example, imagining getting even with the mean kids at school isn't going to fly.)  So Eden's imaginative picture of the resurrection right now is seeing herself petting a baby cheetah.  

When Eden got excited in church last Sunday, at first I thought it was kind of cute.  Then I thought maybe it shows the questionable theology of a 2 year old.  Then I saw it as really a profound moment, in which my own theology could be sharpened by Eden's theology.

First, how wonderful that her ears are attuned to the words, "When Jesus comes back."  Z has done this before too.  It's like they have radar on that is searching for those words, and when they hear it, all their attention is focused on it.  Shouldn't we all be anticipating the return of Christ so much that even the words that symbolize that idea should instantly focus our attention and at the same time fill us with so much excitement we can barely sit still!

Second, Eden's vision of petting the baby cheetah is almost identical to Isaiah's vision of the restored earth, where "the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.  The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  Infants will play near the hole of the cobra; young children will put their hands into the viper's nest.  They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Is. 11:7-9).  Eden's desire to pet the baby cheetah is simply the desire for life without fear, without pain, without death; the desire for life with reconciliation, with power, with eternity, with God.

All of which reminded me, because of my tendency to look down on or be amused by the theology of 2 year olds, of the following quote from Martin Luther:  "Now the Holy Ghost does not consider red caps or brown, or any other pomp, nor whether we are young or old, layman or priest, monk or secular, virgin or married; nay, he once spoke by an ass against the prophet that rode on it.  Would to God we were worthy to have such doctors given us."

Stuff

Last Sunday after church I noticed that Eden's eye was a little red a swollen, like this:

I thought she'd bumped it or something.  But the next morning, the eye was completely swollen shut, and upon closer examination I found what looked like a sting or bite in the corner of her eye.  After a quick trip to the nurse and a good dose of antihistamines, we decided not to worry about it.  After a full afternoon of playing in the dirt, this is what our beautiful little girl looked like:

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We had a rainy day today and spent a little while in the backyard.  Z can do this for minutes and even hours.  Who knows what story lines are running through his head.

Meanwhile, Eden looked for an ocean for her baby turtle and sang songs:

"Jesus Loves Me"

"Hush Little Baby"

From the Past

July 2011 -- Learning the alphabet

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Eden goes to a daycare two days a week.  The other day I was there to pick her up, and as usual she ran over with a happy cry when she saw me.  She had a small stuffed bear in her hands, which she immediately showed to me, saying, "This is my baby bear.  Her mama work all day.  She miss her.  I take care her."  Ouch.

Last week Nathan was helping Z with some math homework -- a word problem involving adding up the number of birds in a tree.  As Z thought about it, he closed his eyes tightly and made fists with his hands.  Nathan said, "It's ok if you want to use your fingers to figure out the answer."  To which Z responded, without opening his eyes or unclenching his fists, "I am using my fingers -- they're in my cabeza!"

The Quilt

In 1945 the ladies of the Winchester, KS Reformed Presbyterian Church held a baby shower for their pastor's wife, who was expecting her second child.  As part of the shower, each lady made a quilt square, which was given to the expectant mother to be stitched together to make a quilt for the new baby.  The pastor's wife was my grandmother, Winifred Elliott, and the soon-to-be-born baby was my mother, Kathy.

The quilt blocks were beautiful, but, not surprisingly, Grammy did not get them quilted together before the baby was born, and she certainly didn't get them quilted together after the baby was born!  She did accomplish the task many years later, but since her daughter, Kathy, was much too big for the baby quilt (since she was, in fact, all grown up by the time the blocks became a quilt), the quilt was promised to Kathy's first daughter when she got married.

While some suspected the great day would never arrive, I did actually get married and inherited the quilt.  I put it away for the day when I would have a daughter of my own.  And tonight, Eden for the first time goes to sleep under the Winchester quilt.

Thank you, dear Tabithas of the the Church, who in 1945 made a quilt for the new baby, who became my mother.  I was married in their church building 58 years later, and cover up my daughter with their handiwork 68 years later.  I hope she will be so surrounded by the Church all of her days.

Eden with her beautiful quilt.

Eden picked out this square as her favorite, which is wonderful because Minnie Belle is actually one of the few makers of the quilt I actually met.

Eden points out another square she likes -- this time an elephant.

Our Little Cassandra

Two nights ago Z helped me make dinner and was a wonderful assistant.  He wore my apron while we worked, and when supper was ready he had to really wrestle with it to get it off.  When he finally rid himself of the apron he ran through the dining room shouting, "I'm free!  I'm free!" with great joy.  Eden, who was sitting in her highchair, watched him run by and then muttered forbodingly under her breath, "But you're NOT free!"  Scary.

A Day at the Zoo

Today was Z's first day of 1st grade!  I took him to school this morning (he'll carpool with friends from now on), and he just acted like an old pro.  His first grade class lined up beside a kindergarten class -- oh the kindergartners!  They are so little and scared!  I'm glad Z was so brave last year, because I was not!

But with Z off to school and me still not in school, Eden and I decided to hit up the zoo.  We had fun!

Eden and the Kookaburra -- "Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra"

Feeding the ducks was the highlight -- see the videos below!

What a big girl she is becoming!