sydneyandshaun

Sunday after church
On Sunday, I asked the kids what they learned in Promiseland. First response was "Nothing." That's the "let's see if Mom has the energy to dig out the answer" response. And Mom was feeling strong so she dug a little deeper. The first answer was something to the effect that "we learned about the people who start with an F" which left me stumbling a bit. However, when Shaun remembered that "God turned the water into blood Mom", we were on the beginning of another interesting spiritual journey. I figured out that the people that start with an F was, in fact, Pharaoh.

Then we talked about the difference between God's actions in the Old Testament and the New Testament and the reason for the difference being Jesus. And that's when it got a little bit deep.

I said something about God sending his Son Jesus. Sydney piped up and said, "I thought Jesus was God." We've been over this question before. I've used the illustration of the egg. Today I thought that I'd take a different approach. And so I explained some of the characteristics of God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When I explained that the Holy Spirit lives within us as Christians to tell us what to do Sydney stopped me.

Sydney accepted Christ as her Savior at about 4 1/2 years old and is interested in spiritual matters. Jesus is very real to her. So her question was "Mom, how do I know that He is telling me what to do? How do I not know that it's just my brain telling me what to do?"

Ah...the questions of a six year old. Well, the discussion of "how do I know" was short but good. And I know that there will be follow-ups soon...because that's Sydney for you. But it keeps my faith so fresh to have to answer in the simplest of terms why I believe what I believe. It's good for me!

Three Chinese and two Norwalk people
Haoyi is coming for supper tonight. Shaun is so excited. Last night we were talking about how she would be here tonight for supper. Shaun wanted to know if I was fixing something special. I said that I was...we have ribeyes in the refrigerator because Haoyi loves steak! And I thought that we might crank up the homemade ice cream as well. That satisfied Shaun.

Then, he threw his hands in the air as if in victory and said "Mom, there will be three Chinese people in the house and two Norwalk people." And that left me thinking about whether or not I'm doing enough to try to keep the Chinese culture alive for my children. It left me thinking about whether an almost all Caucasian school is the best place for my children. Not new questions, just questions revisited.