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She’s got your number.

I don’t know what it is about kindergarten, but when Joshua was in it, he became really worried and obsessed with the concept of dying. It was not so much fun, answering all those questions and trying to give him reassurances.

So a couple weeks ago when Sophie, who is now (coincidentally?!) in kindergarten, asked me, “Mom, why do people die?” I was afraid I was in for another few months of fears and explanations.

“Well, honey, at some point our bodies get too old and they just don’t work any more,” I said. (Good one, right? Clearly I am a genius mom.)

That seemed to satisfy her curiosity for the moment, but clearly she kept thinking about it. Because the next morning at 6:30 after Bobby woke the kids for school,  when they both crawled in bed with me for a minute or two like they do each morning, Sophie immediately said, “Mom? How old is Grandma Burns (my and Emily’s grandma)?”

“She’s 87,” I answered sleepily.

Sophie sat straight up and said in yelled in a voice that was not even kind of sleepy, “WOW! She’s ALMOST DEAD!!!”

I clapped my hand over my mouth to hold in my laughter and horror. Then when I had composed myself, I answered, “Well not really honey, it’s just that she’s lived a long time and she probably has less time to live than most of us.” (Really, it was SIX-THIRTY a.m. I am not at my sharpest!)

“Yeah,” she answered matter-of-factly. “Probably like three years, or two, or one.”

So there ya go folks. Sophie knows the number of your days. At least if you’re an octogenarian. Sheesh!

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How I’m Recapturing Christmas

This post is a response to this post on the blog Charlie Says It.

I was raised in a family that celebrated Christmas and its true meaning – the joy and gift of Christ’s birth – while also observing wonderful family traditions with the whole extended family. It was good. And still is.

As an adult, with a family of my own, little has changed. We delight in watching our children open presents while trying to instill in them a love for giving and a knowledge that the reason we give is because God gave us His Son. It’s been so good.

But it can be better. A thousand times better, and that’s why I want to recapture Christmas.

Recapturing Christmas actually began for me this past September, when I began volunteering with Shoes 4 the Shoeless. Here I was introduced to children who have great needs.  These children are in life situations where they have caregivers who either cannot or will not provide these needs for them. Most are fortunate to eat at least a free lunch and sometimes a free breakfast at school. But nights are hungry and often cold, weekends long and empty.

I’ve seen a teacher tear up as she described how grateful she was to be able to give new underpants to a child who didn’t have any. Another told our group of volunteers, “Our kids come to school to survive. They come to school to be safe, and be fed.”

Jesus loves these little children. And so must we.

I was proud, and privileged, yet humbled, and broken to be able to help and give love this year.

Christ calls on us to help the poor. These children who cannot provide for themselves are the poorest of the poor. And they have taught me what I need to know to recapture Christmas this year.

We desperately needed Christmas – a gift that brought absolute love and light into a world that was absolutely mean and dark. It can still be dark. Haven’t we seen that, oh so recently? But that’s why God sent Jesus – a gift – the Son of God come to live among such darkness, come from the beauty of heaven to suffer the indignities of human life! To give and give and give and serve and serve and serve, knowing He would receive nothing in return!

What I know, friends, is that Christmas – the hope of Christmas – needs to be lived in my life and my actions all year long. And so I’ve resolved to live in a way that it can be. For me, this means using my money and my time wisely so there’s some left over to give to those in need. This fall, in a variety of ways, I got a good start. In 2013, I want Christmas to be constant, a way of life, year-round, oozing Christmas out my pores. Can I do it? I don’t know. But I will try.

Because Christmas needs to be recaptured in my life. And friends, the chase is on.

 

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Where do we go from here?

Like all of you, I’m sure, I’m having a hard time thinking of anything besides what happened in Connecticut on Friday. Well, what happened, and what on God’s earth we can do to stop it from happening again.

I wish I had the answers. Actually, I don’t need the answers – I just need someone to have the answers. And so far, it doesn’t seem like anyone does.

There’s one thing I keep seeing over and over – although I may be overestimating the frequency with which I see it because it bothers me so much – is the idea that if we all just had guns, we’d be good to go. If only teachers had access to weapons, they could stop these things. If we had armored guards at the door to every school building, our kids would be safer.

Here’s the thing. We have a word for a situation in which everyone is armed.

It’s called war.

And you know what? That might be the easiest solution, the most immediate solution.

But it’s not good enough.

“Protecting” our kids by making sure their kindergarten teachers have assault rifles? No thanks. That’s not good enough for my kids, and I don’t think it’s good enough for anyone.

(And where in the world would we get the money for that, anyway? Our schools have no money. Parents – and teachers themselves, more often than not – have to buy the freaking tissues. But that is a topic for another day.)

The problem is deeper than that. It’s more complicated than that. We’ve got to take a hard look at our society and start placing a priority on gun control, mental healthcare, parenting resources – the list goes on. We’ve got to change our society. That’s no easy task, but now, in the wake of this horrific tragedy that’s captured the attention of our nation, is the time.

As I said before, I don’t have the answers. I don’t even know all the things I can do personally to make these changes, but I am going to keep searching. One thing I have done, though, is sign the petition put together by MomsRising.org calling for common sense gun regulations.

Here’s what it says.

We are beyond heartbroken as we think of the many young children and adults that died in Connecticut. This is the 16th mass shooting in our nation this year.

We are parents. Many NRA members are parents. And none of us want to live in a nation where children are gunned down. Now is the time for the NRA and for Congress to step up and start proposing laws that protect children and all people.

That’s not too much to ask, is it? For the people we have placed our faith in and voted into office to propose laws to prevent children from being gunned down? It is common sense.

I think this is something we all need to talk about, and I encourage each of you to leave a comment on this post so we can get a conversation started here on this little corner of the internet. Together, we can make a difference.

We’re moms. We can do anything, right?

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