baby Bible time

like all children of his generation, cruz has a thing for elmo. 

he can name most of the sesame street gang, but goes absolutely bonkers for the little red guy.

(side note: if i were a sesame street character, i would definitely be prairie dawn, which is super boring, but she does rock some awesome floral overalls every once in a while)

we have so many elmo books.

cruz loves to watch sesame street.

if you have an ipad, he will walk up to you and ask, "elmo?"

he will go nuts when he finally fits into his elmo t-shirt.

i desperately want to buy him an elmo doll because he will go crazy, which is exactly why i don't think i will buy him an elmo doll. 

but all of this elmo adoration got me thinking...

if cruz can pick elmo out of a monster-y line-up, surely he can recognize Jesus if i start sharing the gospel with him now.

so Baby Bible Time was born!

trucks, Jesus, Cruz... the gang's all here!

while cruz eats breakfast, i read a chapter from the Jesus Storybook Bible as i try not to weep into his yogurt.

i mean, here is an except, please grab a tissue:

Jesus walked into the little girl's bedroom. And there, lying in the corner, in the shadows, was the still little figure. Jesus sat on the bed and took her pale hand.

"Honey," he said, "it's time to get up."  And he reached down into death and gently brought the little girl back to life.

[i mean, seriously Jesus, you love us so dang much it pierces my soul]

after we read and clap for "cheesus," we color the Bible verse i've written out for us. 

cruz is a pretty good memorizer, so i say the verse many, many times over many, many days and then let him start filling in the words.

this week we are up to:

me: trust in the

cruz: Lord

me: with all your

cruz: heart

...they are weak but He is strong...

then we color while we talk about colors and shapes and letters, so that when cruz chooses to play trucks for the next ten hours, i feel like we've at least broadened his horizons in the morning. 

because here is the real thing: no matter what happens in his life, i want cruz to understand just a small fraction of the love Jesus has for him. love that would reach down into death for him. and that is worth a big aaaaaaamen.