I can't wait for heaven

Today I took all 3 kids to Sam's. As we were leaving the lady who draws the line through your receipt commented on Elijah, who was sleeping peacefully in his carseat, and how he looked just like his brother. Katy piped in with "That's my little brother, Elijah-jijah." The lady gave her some sympathy for being the only girl with two brothers and she said, "Yeah, because my sister, Hope, died." An awkward moment, but the woman was kind and said, "Well, maybe she's in heaven." I confirmed that she certainly is, and that I bet she looks like Katy. As we walked to the car, we had a sweet (but very teary for me) conversation about what Hope looks like. (Katy has said things about Hope lots of times since Elijah's birth and really latched on to the idea that her sister might look like her.) Alex thinks she might look like an angel--even be an angel. I don't know, but I look forward to the day I get to see her. In the meantime, I got a great reminder of the sovereignty of God, of the tenderness of our human hearts--that I can go from the joy of shopping at Sam's to the raw emotion of grief in just seconds, and of the many, many people around me who are hurting and I haven't noticed yet.

I don't know why I even share that story--not to elicit sympathy or make you sad. Just to acknowledge that this is life. You are my family, and I just wanted to share that little piece of me. I can't wait for heaven. As my brother Randy might say, "Kumbayah!" (his new favorite explitive, I believe!)