I started writing Part I of this blog about two weeks ago, and E and H have visited us a couple of times and H more often since then. One day as H and I chatted on the porch, I told her that Sarah’s other Grandma is an artist, and she is doing the artwork for a children’s book I’m writing.

“Grandma Jan isn’t done working on the pictures yet, but she made me a copy of the pages so far,” I said. “Would you like to see it?”

H seemed interested and later I wished I’d read it to her rather than just showing her a few pages. A couple days later E came to visit with H, and H said, “Why don’t you show E the book you and Sarah’s other Grandma are working on?”

So I scurried into the house and came back with the “book.” “Would you like me to read it to you?”

They both nodded eagerly and snuggled up with me on the swing. H wiggled around and said, “There would still be room for Sarah here!”

I read the book which has lots of pictures that Grandma Jan has been drawing. The story is based on a true incident with Sarah called “Where is Mary Now?” that deals with death and heaven. E and H sat quietly and listened attentively. I was encouraged that the story and pictures seemed to hold their attention.

On Monday morning I read this on my daily devotional calendar:

Choices can change our lives to mend a broken relationship, to say “yes” to a difficult assignment, to lay aside some important work to play with a child, to visit some forgotten person–small choices may affect many lives eternally.

Gloria Gaither

I remembered this devotional when the ringing doorbell interrupted my writing day, and I saw H’s small face peeking through my screen door. When H saw me running down the stairs, she said, “Is this a writing day?”

I greeted her with a smile and said, “Yes, it is, but I’ll take a break to chat with you.”

She ran home to tell her Mom figure where she was. In a few minutes, she and E were back and they’d brought their ten-year-old brother HR with them. E said confidentially before he came up the porch steps, “This is his first time to visit you!”

I greeted HR warmly and the three of them sat on the porch swing together. HR talked a lot and when E and H tried to say something, he talked over them. After a while, when HR talked over her again, E caught my eye with a little smile that HR didn’t see that seemed to say This is how things go!  

As I listened to HR’s worried tone, he said, “I really don’t want to die.”

“Why don’t you want to die?” I asked.

“Because I don’t know if heaven’s real, and I don’t want to just not be anymore!”

I looked at E and H. “Should I read him the book I read to you last week?”

They nodded their heads eagerly. “Yes, yes!”

So once again I brought out our “book” and began to read. They all listened attentively. When I finished, HR started asking questions. How do we know it’s true that heaven is real? Will dogs and cats go to heaven? And many more good questions. I talked a lot about the Bible being the reason we know that heaven is real and used it to answer many of his questions about how we can know if we’ll go to heaven. He is obviously a deep thinker and a worrier. Please pray for HR that he would come to a place of peace about the answers to all his questions.

Later night our key verse in The Daily Bread devotional was Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me (Mark 9:37).

Donn said, “I believe God is saying that welcoming these little neighborhood kids is the same as welcoming Jesus.”

Father, show us how to use the opportunities you give us to plant seeds in the young hearts of precious children you place in our paths. Amen.

The featured picture was of our Christian Nursery School class in 1982 or 1983.