Ready for a heart-wrenching series of photos?
They're so cute, that when they were uploading on the computer I almost died.
This is Emile; part adorable cuddly little angel, part troublemaker extraordinaire.
I'm just showing you the cuddly angel side though. That's mostly how I remember him anyway, especially since on the last day he cupped my face in his hands and asked if I wanted to stay and come live with him. He said my bedroom could be where the living room was now.
You try telling those big, brown, five-year-old eyes that you're about to get on a bus and leave and not come back for a year. I sure couldn't. I just hugged him and said "Sure!" and then gave him candy and a snowcone. Once the sugar buzz set in, he forgot all about it.
Oh, and the nickels he's holding?
His offering.
Am I the only one thinking about Luke 21:1-4?
"As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow [or small, inner city boy] put in two very small copper coins. 'I tell you the truth,' he said, 'This poor widow [or small, inner city boy] put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she [or he] out of her poverty put in all she [or he] had to live on.'"
Wow! I'm not saying that those few cents were all he had to live on, but still. It was a beautiful - and convicting! - picture of what true giving should look like.
"And he said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'"
Matthew 18:3
