Jesus in his heart!

A few weeks ago, our sweet Hud decided to give his life to Jesus! It was in the van with Russ after church, and we took a picture of it so that he would hopefully remember it better as he gets older.

This has been something Han has been encouraging him to do ever since she made the decision last fall. We kept telling her that Hud could decide when he was ready. She was genuinely concerned that he hadn't made the decision yet. He, on the other hand wasn't quite sure he was ready to die and go to heaven. Han kept telling him, "I did it and I didn't die!"

One day he randomly came up to me and said, "Mom are you going to be there?" "Going to be where, Hud?" "In heaven." I assured him that I was. Then he said, "Is Jackson going to be there?" Again, I assured him. "Well what about my blue blankie?" I told him that I thought Jesus would have a brand new blue blankie for him. "But I want my old one." "Well that will probably be ok." Then he asked if a few more of his favorite things would be there, like knight helmets, swords, and Bible study books.

On the particular day he made the decision, Han had initiated the conversation and Russ told her to let him decide when he was ready. This time he insisted he wanted to and Russ told him that he could wait, but he said no and was emphatic about doing it right away. Russ talked with him about what it meant and he understood it all. When he was ready to pray, on his own, he got out of his booster seat and knelt down. He asked Russ to help him, and said his own little version of the sinner's prayer.

He announced it at his AWANA's Cubbies club that week. The teacher told all the kids that Hud had something special he wanted to share, and he got up in front of them all and told them that he had asked Jesus into his heart. Then after they all prayed for him, Han raised her hand and said that she had something special to share too... "Today in swim class, I went down the big slide and opened my eyes TWO times under water!!!"