Not Taking it for Granted: My Children

As I shared in my last post, my mother-in-law passed away. We are all still grieving, which is natural. I will admit I still grieve about the loss of my own mother and passed away 15 years ago. My children are still struggling with the concept of the whole thing.

My 3 year old daughter knows she is in heaven with Jesus, and that is good enough for her. My 4 1/2 year old son still has a lot of questions. We decided we wanted the children, all three, to attend the viewing and the funeral. We talked to the children from the day she passed away (Monday, September 30) until the viewing and funeral (Friday, October 4) about death heaven, old bodies, and new heavenly bodies. We tried to explain in their language, and answer all the questions they had.

While at the funeral our son got mad when they closed his Nana in the casket. This gave us a clue that he did not fully understand. He is struggling to comprehend that she is no longer here, and he regularly tells us he misses her and wants to talk to her. He asked us if she was hiding when we went to visit her grave. He thought the cometary was heaven, and he could see her if we went. Heaven, new and old bodies, are all theological ispdeas that we as adults can struggle with, so these concepts to children are that much harder for them to reason out.

As days have been passing they seem to be understanding that she is no longer here to see us. My husbands parents live about 15 minutes away, so a week did not go by without us going to their house or them coming to ours. We also have helped care for her these past 6 months or so, That meant going over 3 or more times a week. Emma asked where she was the last time we went to their house, so we had to talk about it again.

We are taking it one day at a time.