goodbye old friend.

On Saturday, we said farewell to Uncle Brother's best friend. We will miss you, Levi.

Last week at VBS, we learned a lot about God (Jesus) as friend, only to face some hard truths about Him this weekend. Having the death discussion with an almost five year old is not something I would wish on my worst enemy (so I passed the torch to David, ha). It took several days for Aubrey Joy to wrap her sweet little head around Levi's passing. Last night at dinner she told us, "I have had 5 cries today and my heart STILL hurts." We are so blessed to have not yet lost someone with whom Aubrey Joy had a real relationship. Yes, we've prayed for grandparents of friends through illness and then for the comfort of those same friends as their loved one "went to be with Jesus," but I don't think she's ever really known what we actually meant by "die." She's even asked me several times if I am dead - noting that I'm gaining more and more wrinkles and gray hairs (this child does wonders for my self esteem). Naturally, the easiest way for me to comfort her was to ensure her that Levi has gone to Heaven. I once heard a much older and wiser mom offer her ONLY piece of advice - never lie to your children. I know this one's going to come back to bite me - hard! It's just so hard for me to get a real grasp on death.... I still feel like a child myself. I need my momma to help me process, so how will I ever be equipped to comfort her? My only help comes from above, so I do what I know to be constant and true - I rely on scripture. So far, it's worked fine (and as a plus, the little one offers daily reminders from the verses she has taken in as well.) In an odd twist of events, we also got to look at death (and another ugly truth about the Big Guy?) in a much different way yesterday.  Some of you will know that we are somewhat a family (extended) of birders. In our little backyard bit of country in the city, we have a few bird families who nest every year. This year, one family of Bluejays and one of Cardinals (no room for bird snobs in the city - beggars can't choose). It just so happens that the baby Cardinals left the nest for the first time on Saturday. Yesterday, Aubrey Joy and I were very closely observing one of the little ones as he fluttered back and forth up and down a small shrub in our flower bed, when Miles (the spaniel) realized what he was going on, swooped in and, well, you know what happened next. Luckily for me, David had just pulled in from work and walked in the back door when Aubrey Joy went running/screaming/fist pounding into the house and back to her room. So, I DID let him explain the circle of life - hey, someone had to get dinner on the table! Bless her little heart, her only question was if God "had His eye" on that little bird when Miles ATE him!!! His eye is on the sparrow...