JOY

... so today on the way home from school, i was asking READ and KELLEY what they had done today... they were filling me in on the activities of their day.... oh to be little again... playing...coloring... and working on EASTER eggs... oh yeah! easter is coming up... and i haven't even really thought about it... so that prompted me to ask... "do y'all know what EASTER is?!?".... and to my disappointment.... both of them said..."no"... i was so convicted... i had not shared with them enough about it... but i also took it as a GREAT opportunity to tell them the EASTER story... it's sort of hard story to explain without completely scaring them... JESUS dying on the cross... "how did HE die, mama".... "well, the bad men NAILED him to the cross..." " but why, mama?!?"... " because they did not like JESUS... "  the "why's" went on for a while... "why did HE die, mama?!?"... "well, read... because HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH..."... " HE's in heaven now, right, mama?!?!... " yes, READ".... "and one day I will go to heaven, mama?!?"... "yes, read ..." and sweet KELLEY (who LOVES everything right now) says... "i LOVE heaven!, do you LOVE heaven, mama?!?"... "yes, kelley, i love heaven".... and we went on to say who we would see in heaven... pop, bo, jesus, mema, pappy....it was such a fun conversation...and hearing them talking about JESUS living in their hearts... kelley reminded me of "her story",  that HAPPY prayed with her a couple of months ago.... and she too, has Jesus in her heart..... oh how i pray that my children will grow up loving the Lord with all of their HEART, SOUL, MIND, AND STRENGTH..... what a JOY that would be...