Tragedy and little children

We told our children tonight about the recent tragedy in Abilene that I mentioned in an earlier blog. We asked Hunter yesterday about this little girl that had been in his class, and he said that she was his friend and he talked with her. Nancy and I have been looking at their class picture the last two days, frankly in disbelief that she is not here with us anymore.

We told the kids tonight. We just wanted to make sure that he heard it from us rather than having to ask tomorrow in class or being told by someone else, although I am sure they would have been thoughtful. We had no idea if our four year old son Hunter would even understand.

We sat in a circle in the kids' room. We spoke specifically to Hunter. We told him that his friend from class, the little girl, had passed away and she would not be in the class anymore. Hunter started to cry. We just took turns holding him, and eventually he asked if he could sleep with us tonight.

No matter how much we try to pretend otherwise, this world is truly fractured. Please pray for that family.