best news ever

This morning Joe, Anna and I were innocently sitting in the living room. Anna said something about heaven and how we'd all be there together some day and I told her that if she wanted to be in heaven with Jesus some day that she needed to ask him to come live in her heart and say she was sorry for all the bad things she does and thank him for dying to take away all those bad things. I explained (again, since we've been explaining the same thing over and over in many different ways her entire life) that she needed to decide herself and ask him to come live in her heart. She was ready, she was excited and before I knew it, I was helping her pray to ask Jesus into her heart. It was so wonderful! Kirb has been the one at that moment with the older 4 kids, and this time I got a turn. I was reminded of an evening a few weeks back (or was it months, already) when, after dinner, the 3 big kids were praying for the 2 littles, since they were the only ones in our family who hadn't made their own decisions to make Jesus the Lord of their life. This morning I was so thankful for one answer to that prayer. We called Daddy right away to tell him and then called Ama & BopBop :: happy tears all around! When Jacob and Lydia woke up, she told them and they were both so excited for her too. We emailed Bekah at camp so she could know the great news too. It was all so endearing! . . . but never fear, we are normal -- about 37 seconds after the sweet, sentimental moment there was an equally nasty sibling moment involving punching. Oh well, enjoy it while you can, right?

We had a celebration tonight and went out to dinner. My mom and dad joined us, too, which added to the fun.

Let me introduce you to the newest (future) resident of heaven ::

And another picture of Anna that I love. I took it at her soccer game yesterday morning. Those bobbing, curly pigtails :: I can hardly stand it!

So, isn't that the best news ever? It completely made my day . . . my life!