leaving a legacy

i love the conversations mikayla and i have driving places. mikayla wanted to know if she would be a little girl when she was in heaven. so i told her how the bible tells us that we will have perfect bodies in heaven. she thought a minute then said that’s not true because remember how those mean robbers hid behind the bushes on the road and then beat up that man and left him to die. so he didn’t have a perfect body in heaven. i then explained to her how that happened a long time ago but not in heaven. on earth? she asked me. i told her yes. a few minutes later mikayla asked me if people would tell stories about her after she died. i told her yes. she wanted to know who. i told her all the people who loved and knew her would tell stories about her. the conversation ended with mikayla saying, i guess i need to start being really, really good.

little women and life plans

michael has started reading to mikayla these kid version classics. so far they have read great expectations, robin hood, and king arthur. they are about to start reading little women (one of my favorites) so i was introducing mikayla to the characters. i told her about amy, who loved to paint and was very concerned with being pretty. (mikayla commented kindof like me and my babysitter amy). i told her about beth who was extremely sweet but very sick. (that’s like lindsey). jo, i told her, was a tomboy who loved to read. (mikayla said that is exactly like me but i am a womanboy) when i got to meg & her getting married, mikayla said she didn't have a plan for marriage yet because she was too young to figure that out. she paused and then said when she was 6 she would decide who she was going to marry. then she told me she already had a job plan. when she was tara’s age she would be an artist for sixty eighty years. then when she was a mommy she would be a teacher to little kids. finally when she was in heaven she would share all of her stuff with everyone.

“i not charlie”

last night in the car mt dropped his gum. he immediately turned to me crying about his lost gum. he wanted another piece to replace it. i told him sorry charlie, no more gum. with an extremely indignant face he yelled at me through his tears “i not charlie!”