1. Talia asked me if I knew why she decided it was good to be in heaven. "Why," I asked. "Well, when I'm in heaven I get to have a dog, because of no allergies, and people there ask for things nicely instead of taking them." She looked meaningfully at Malachi.
2. I've been working with the kids on language - that is, appropriate exclamations of surprise, etc. In particular, I've been reminding Malachi to not use the expression "What the-" Maybe I see too many adolescents in therapy, but I just don't like hearing what's in my mind when that gets said. Anyway, Talia told me one day that she "heard Malachi say 'Holy Farming Animals' and I feeled proud of him in my heart."
3. Last night we were reading about Nephi and the Brass Plates and how he went to Jerusalem to get them, went back to where his family was camped out in the wilderness, and then got the instructions to go right back to Jerusalem to get Ishmael and his family. I asked the kids what they thought about making two trips instead of one, and we explored some ideas about why. Talia offered the following explanation: The reason they didn't do both at the same time was because they had to put down the brass plates first before getting Ishmael!
