we love books. i come from a family that loves books. it's all i ever ask for when people ask what the boys need for christmas or birthdays...i point them to their amazon wishlist. i love going through bookstores browsing childrens books with amazing artwork and great writing. i think the artwork is important especially since our boys aren't reading themselves yet. i love glancing over at one of the boys sitting on the floor with a book spread across their lap. they'll usually stare at a picture for a few minutes, study each part of it, then bring the book over to me or kenny and ask a question about what they've seen in the picture: "mommy, why is that fish eating that other fish?"

we've hit the "why" stage with both boys. rowan recently (6 weeks ago) started asking a string of "why" questions. before we got to this stage with the boys - before they started talking - i wanted to make the effort to always answer their "why" questions. i know that kids go through the "whys" and i didn't want to just answer, "because i said so" because it was the easy answer to get them to stop asking. asking questions is how they'll learn. and i love that they want to learn (or that they're wired to learn already!).

but this is a lot harder than i thought it would be. sawyer, especially, loves asking "why?" he can ask upwards of 7-8 "whys" in one conversation alone. and each time it happens, it's based on different subjects, so i have no "canned responses" for him. i overheard a conversation between the boys the other day: sawyer was asking rowan a string of "whys" and by the second or third one, rowan asnwered, "sawyer, i just don't know. be quiet." i understood his frustration. because even i don't know the answer to some of his "why" questions!

i find that i'm ending a lot of these questions with the answer, "because that's how God created him/her/it/them." and that seems to be the answer that quenches their thirst for answers (albeit breifly). however, i want them to eventually ask "why?" when i tell them that God created something a particular way. because the answer to that will usually be, "i don't know." and i want them to know (and believe themselves) our belief in God as creator, Jesus as Saviour, and Holy Spirit as comforter. but we don't have all the answers. kenny and i want nothing more than our kids to know and receive the love of Christ. but we want them to come to that knowledge through Him alone, and not through keeping them from the world by building protective walls around them with bible verses plastered all over them. we'll work to the bone to teach them why we believe what we believe, and we'll eagerly pray for them everyday. but they'll only get to a deep faith by learning or wanting to learn it themselves.

so we trust that they'll get the right answers when they start asking the hard questions. when we can't be there to answer them. or when we just don't have the answers.