Where is God?

My daily & weekly schedule has been rather full these last few months and lately I've been questioning how I spend my time. When evaluating my schedule, I realize there are so many GOOD things we are involved with (playgroup activities, preschool 2x a week, MOPS, playdates with friends, Jazzercise, etc), but I question whether it is a good thing to always be running to and fro to participate in so many activities. I am actually a homebody and prefer to have quiet time at home, so it's ironic that my schedule is so busy and full of activities out of the house.

To my point...yesterday Keira and I went to Mommy & Me preschool, ran an errand, and then came home for lunch. After lunch, she went down for a nap. I had been contemplating squeezing in a trip to the library (which Keira LOVES!) after her nap and before I had to meet Noah for our dinner date to celebrate his birthday (hence, this is exactly the type of "to-and-fro" I was referring to above).

After Keira woke up, she asked about the library (we had stopped by to drop off books, but they didn't open until later in the afternoon), but I just didn't have the energy to make the trip, so I told her we would stay home and play together instead. Because we always seem to be running around, we don't have much time to relax at home and play together, so it was nice to do exactly that.

As we played with play-doh and munched on popcorn for a snack, I started talking about the thankful tree on the wall (that post is still to come). We had already gone over this topic, but I reminded her what it means to be thankful and tried to get her to tell me what things she is thankful for (popcorn was one of the things she mentioned!). Afterward, I mentioned that when we are thankful for something, we need to say "thank you" to the person who gave it to us. So, we might say, "Thank you Mommy for the snack" or "Thank you God for the food we have to eat and the house we live in."

Then she said, "Where is God?" This question opened the door for me to introduce new words/concepts to her like heaven and to also tell her that God is right here with us, He sees us, He loves us, He hears us, etc. Then she said, "Hugging!" and I said, "Yes, God can hug us and we feel it in our hearts and He is with us."

I can't begin to express the joy in my heart over this conversation. I really felt like Keira was listening and trying to understand what I was saying. Even today, when we were driving to the grocery store, we saw a big construction crane. We were talking about how it was way up in the sky and Keira said, "Heaven is way up there!" WOW!

I am so thankful I took the time to slow down yesterday, which resulted in some precious one-on-one time with my Baby Girl. Thank you, Lord. :)