Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Do you think they'll excommunicate me??

Anyone who knows us, even moderately well, knows who the following member of our family is.





Monkey. Not Bob the monkey. Not Mr. Monkey. Not even George the Monkey. JUST Monkey. Nicole and Monkey have rarely been separated over the last 2 years. He was purchased at that dreadful Rain Forest Cafe in Galveston where we realized that she was frightened by thunderstorms. To remove her from a terribly unpleasant situation, I took her to the massive gift shop and bought her this Monkey as a consolation prize. And thus a thick friendship was born. Monkey goes everywhere and does everything. I love that she loves Monkey.

Well, today we were talking about St. Michael, Satan, Heaven, Hell, etc. The children grasp the whole concept really well and seem to accept it and understand it all with that lovely childlike simplicity. Nicole is always happy when she talks about Heaven because she knows she will get to see Mary, St. Bernadette, St. Joan of Arc, etc. She grins from ear to ear every time she speaks of the possibility. Today as we talked about it again, her eyes began to tear up noticeably. I asked her what was wrong, thinking the discussion was maybe scaring her, although there was nothing said we hadn't spoken of many times before. She got more and more tears and finally said, "Mommy, I don't think I want to go to Heaven. I have to have Monkey." I think at this point I was teary too. Without even thinking (must have been the Holy Spirit), I said, "Oh, Nicole, you will take Monkey with you." Her smile immediately returned and she giggled with delight. I reassured her of the fact that Monkey would be more than welcome. Jacob asked me how I knew she could take Monkey. I simply said, "Mary told me so." I know she did.

3 comments:

mom-in-training said...

How absolutely precious! Nicole and Monkey - unseparable. :) God really does have a way of coming to our rescue when we need just the right answer for our children. Well done!

Melissa said...

So sweet! Good job, mom!

Mom of boys said...

That is just awesome!