Mom, did you know I'm your brother?

Yes, that was yesterday's question in the car home after I picked the boys up from school.

Proud to say for the first time ever, I was the 5th car in line, in what seems the never-ending line of parent cars waiting to pick up their kids.  The boys eyes got all wide when they realized they weren't going to have to wait the normal 25 minutes for the 20 cars in front of mom to pull through.  I opened the doors, "Hi boys, did you have a good day?  Get in quickly, we've got to keep the line moving." 
They rolled in, piled in, or spilled into the car, threw their backpack in what ever direction their arm was aimed in and buckled up.  As I pulled away Michael said, "Mom- did you know that I'm your brother?"  Reviewing the weekly lesson plans the teacher sent home on Monday in my mind, I didn't recall any lesson about family connections or labels.  I responded, "Really Michael how's that?  I thought I was your mom."  He followed up, "Remember mom at Sunday school we learned that God says we are all brothers to each other and need to be nice."  "Oh I see,"  as I quickly changed topics in my mind, throwing out all highlight of lesson plans.  "You're right Michael."

Upon hearing Michael's comment, Gabriel chimed in, "Mom- did you know I"m really special?"  Although I agree with his statement, I still admit it sounds a tad proud and funny as it was said. "You are special Gabriel, that's right.  Everyone is special because we are all unique right?"  He continued, "But Mom, I'm extra special because my name is Gabriel, and I'm one of God's angels."  Awe, I see where this is going.  "Gabriel that is correct, Gabriel was one of God's archangels.  Did you know there was another one?  Can you guess what his name was?"  "I don't know," he responded.  "The other angel was named Michael."  Surprised as all get-out, he looked at Michael and in a very shocked tone said, "Really, Michael was the other angel?"  Laughing out loud by this point because of his obvious perception that one of God's angels couldn't possibly be named Michael, I went onto explain that yes, both of you have names with Biblical references. 

"Mom- why did you name us Gabriel and Michael?" Gabriel asked.  "Honey, I didn't give you those names, your birth mother did."  Isn't that really nice?  Now thinking we were going to have a conversation about their birth mother and why or how she gave them the names she did, I waited for their response.  Michael chimed in, "Mom does that mean Gabriel and I are more special to God than the rest of you?"  No, Michael, God loves us all equally.  In fact, Mom's name Angie comes from the word Angelic, which is kind of like Angel, and Isabelle's middle name is Grace, as in the Grace God gives us, and Dad's middle name is Joshua from the Bible as well.  I guess we all have names that have a religious connection huh?    Immediately Gabriel chimed in, "Mom- is Jack one of the angels too?"  Michael continued, "Mom- is Jack in the Bible too?"  Now scrambling to figure out how I connect Jack to God, I stuttered over my words and finally decided to lay it out... "Boys, I don't think Jack's name is connected to any Biblical reference."  "But Mom- what's Jack's middle name?"  "He doesn't have one Gabriel."  "Then I think we should give him a middle name" Gabriel retorted, "I think we should make his middle name Angel, then he would be connected to God too."  Objecting immediately to Gabriel's suggestion, Michael said, "No- we should make his middle name Michael, that is the name of God's bestest and most special angel."

Until next time,
Angie