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Table of Contents
 Foreword, iii
 Introduction, xi
 Chapter One Kids and Their Creator, 13
 Chapter Two Kids' Word Mix-ups, 29
 Chapter Three Kids and Food, 39
 Chapter Four Kids and Dollars and Sense, 45
 Chapter Five Combining Business With Pleasure in Kendallville, 47
 Chapter Six Kids and Education, 49
 Chapter Seven Shouldering the Homework Burden, 55
 Chapter Eight Kids and Groan Ups, 57
 Chapter Nine Kids and Health, 75
 Chapter 10 "Totally Awesome," 85
 Chapter 11 Kids Uncommon Sense, 91
 Chapter 12 Kids and Famous People, 97
 Chapter 13 Doggone It! There's a Canine in Our Future!, 101
 Chapter 14 Kids and Animals, 105
 Chapter 15 Being a Dog Owner is Not For Sissies, 111
 Chapter 16 Kids and The Birds and The Bees, 113
 Chapter 17 Kids and Sports, 117
 Chapter 18 Little Gems, 121
 Chapter 19 Facing the "Big S" Question, 125
 Chapter 20 Kids and Christmas, 131
 Our Family Stories, 139

Chapter One: Kids and Their Creator

Children often think about God, heaven, angels and other spiritual matters. Their simple, steadfast faith can be inspirational. Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as they." (Mark 10: 14)

When children get Biblical words and terms confused, they often give us a good laugh. Sometimes, such as in times of sorrow or stress, that laugh is just what we need.

After their Grandpa died, the Smurrs went to put flowers on his grave. Grandpa loved to make wooden toys for the kids. Jeremy said his favorite toy was the wooden rifle his Grandpa made for him.

As he put flowers on the grave, Lori told Jeremy that Grandpa was buried there and that even though hey couldn't see him, he could hear and see them from heaven. Mother and son were quiet. Then Tori started to cry, and Jeremy held her hand.

"I miss you, Grandpa," Lori said. "And I love you."

Jeremy looked at Lori and smiled. Then he cupped both hands around his mouth and yelled at the grave, "THANKS FOR THE GUN, PAPA GEORGE! I REALLY LIKE IT A LOT!"
Patrick, 7, asked his mother Pam if there are angels.

She said yes.

"Are they with me all the time?" he asked.

She said yes.

"Well, I tried to give one a cookie, and it fell on the floor," Patrick said.
Jacob, 4, went to Vacation Bible School. On the first day as he and his mother Wendy were driving home he reached his pocket and found the money Wendy had given him for the offering.

Uh-oh," he said. "I forgot to pay my teacher."
Taryn, 3, insists that when she says "Amen" at the end of her prayer, she is referring to a person.

One day Taryn asked her mother Rhonda why God is in heaven. Rhonda told her. Then Taryn asked Rhonda why God doesn't come down so we can see Him. Rhonda told her. Then Taryn asked if God has a TV. Rhonda said she didn't know.

"Well, if He doesn't have a TV, what do He and Amen do all day?" Taryn asked.
Donna was driving a carload of children to school in their old car, and they were running late. When she stopped at a stop sign the car konked out. The kids started becoming boisterous and impatient.

"Listen," Donna said. "Everybody pray. If anybody can start this car, Jesus can."

"And if it doesn't start, He can get out and push," Kevin, 13, said.

The car finally started.
Jessica goes to a Catholic church where the service always ends with the priest saying, "Peace be with you..."

"Mom," Jessica whispered when she started to get impatient. "Is it almost time to say, 'Pleased to meet you'?"
When Lynn was in the first grade his class was discussing death and funerals. This preyed on his mind for some time, and one evening he asked his parents Jean and DeWitt, "When I die, will they take me over to that body shop on State Street?"

They later figured out he meant Berhalter-Hutchins Funeral Home.
Jim was dressing his daughter Hilary, 4, for a day care. He told her they were going to visit her cousin in Michigan on Sunday. He explained that it was three days away.
When she finished putting on her shoes, Hilary said she wanted to go to her cousin's. Jim explained they were going on Sunday.

She looked out the window and said, "Dad, it is sun day."

"Yes, it's sunny," Jim said. "But Sunday is the day of the week we go to church."

No, dad, we go to church on cold days," she said. The previous Sunday had been very chilly.
As the Farmer family was sitting around the supper table, Jennifer, 5, who was in kindergarten at Faith Christian Academy, turned to her brother, Andy, 3, and pointed to her dad.

"That's not your real father," she said, startling the whole family.

"Yes, he is!" Andy replied.

No, he's not!" Jennifer insisted. "God is your heavenly Father."

Then again pointing at her dad, she said, "That's your homely father!"
After a Bible school session, Mary asked her son Andy what he had learned. He replied that God wants us to be fishers of men.

"Yes!" Marr answered enthusiastically.

Then Andy continued, "Does God really like fish?"
Jessica, 6, really got into watching "Jesus of Nazareth." On the third day of the series she came home from kindergarten and asked, "Mom, are we going to watch 'Jesus of Netherlands' tonight?"
Have you ever heard of whispers that seemed louder than talking? This story is about that kind of whispers. During a church service a 3-year-old girl whispered to her mom that she had to go potty. Her mother let her go alone. It was a long time before the girl came back, and the mother was clearly annoyed.

"What took you so long?" the mother whispered.

"There wasn't any toilet paper, so I had to driup dry!" the little girl whispered loudly enough for half the congregation to hear.
Lucy, 8, was learning the Nicene Greed for Sunday School. She told it to her mother this way: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only forgotten Son of God, forgotten of his Father before all worlds..."
Dustin, 4, was telling his mother Kelli about the accident his preschool teacher Mrs. Anglin was in.

"Was anyone in the car with Mrs. Anglin?" his mother asked.

"Yes, God was," Dustin replied. "But I don't know if He got hurt too."
Tyler, 6, helped his mother Diane tie yellow ribbons all over a tree in their front yard. Diane told him the ribbons were to remind people to pray for our troops in Iraq.

No, they're in Saudi Arabia," Tyler quickly said, surprising his mother with his knowledge of the war.

That night when his father came home, Tyler told him what he and his mother had done. "But the yellow ribbons aren't working," he said. "I was outside 20 minutes and not one car stopped to pray.
Mrs. Freiburger sometimes takes her great-granddaughter Nicole, 5, to the cemetery with her when she puts flowers on the graves.

One day as Nicole and Mrs. Freiburger were driving through the cemetery, they passed a newly dug grave.

"Grandma, look! One got out!" Nicole exclaimed.
At a Methodist church the pastor, as is his custom, asked the congregation to share joys and concerns. After several people had shared their joys - birthdays, new babies etc. - Chelsey, 4, raised her hand. The pastor looked at herexpectantly, waiting for a "joy."

"When are you going to start the puppets?" she asked.
Niccole, 4, had been quoted in "Funny Things Kids Say" several times. One day she aksed her mother, Rosemary, "How does she (GRace Housholder) know what I say?"

Then she answered her own question: "I bet God tells her!"
One day Mrs. Trowsbridge's great-grandson Aaron Paul aksed his Grandma about Jesus. She told him we cannot see Him.

Why don't you phone Him?" Aaron asked.
When Mrs. Davis was driving with her grandchildren, Matthew, 6, and Andrea, 4, they asked her, "Grandma, how old is Grandpa?"

"Sixty," she replied.

"And how old are you?" the youngsters asked.

"Fifty-nine," she said.

After a pause, they asked, "Are you and Granpa getting ready to go to heaven?"
During story hour the children were acting out the poem "Monday's Child."

When Mrs. Steinicke got to Sunday's child and read, "But the child that's born on the Sabbath Day is fair and wise and good all day," little Zach piped up and said, "Oh, no I'm not!"
One night Dane, 5, told his mother Karen, "The sun went down 'cause God thought it was a boring day. He turned off the lights so He could sleep."
Not long after the close of the World Series, Christopher, 7, was still eating and breathing baseball.
One night his father, Dave, wanted to see how his son would do reading the "Good News Bible." Dad was proud as Christopher began, "This is a list of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, a des... des..." Christopher stumbled as he tried to pronounce "descendant" - a real tongue twister for a 7-year-old.
Finally he proudly blurted out "des... designated hitter!"
Vi was babysitting in the nursery of Immanuel Lutheran Church. In the ceiling of the nursery is a speaker so people can hear the service.

One of the children in the nursery was Malissa, 3. When the pastor's voice came over the speaker, Melissa looked at Vi and pointed upward. "Listen! It's God!" she said.
One time Carol took her young son Hans to a Jewish delicatessen to order some bagels. Inside the deli it was quiet, with many patrons sitting around enjoying pastries and sandwiches.

The man behind the counter serving people had brown hair down to his shoulders.

Hans looked at him and asked his mother loudly, "Mom, is that man Jesus?"
Marilyn purchased cookies at the Tri Kappa Salad Bar. Her favorites are the miniature pecan pie cookies. "They taste like you died and went to heaven," she told her children.

After sampling the cookies, Nicole, 5, asked her older brother Nathan, "Have you been to heaven yet?"