The Gospel According to Ian

Dear Ian,

One of my favorite parts of your school is the fact that it's faith-based through the Episcopal Church of the Advent, and part of your curriculum is a weekly chapel special area.  At first I wasn't sure how you were going to do with this; your most recent visit to church was Easter, and you clapped after every hymn, and since our church is so close to campus, you felt the need to do the FSU war chant every so often.  Usually when the congregation was quiet.  (Daddy and I decided then and there that maybe we would wait on church until you were a bit older.)  Anyway.  Chapel is led by Miss Christene in the actual sanctuary of the church, and like my class, your class sits on the floor right at the steps of the altar.  Miss Christene sings a song and then tells a story about God or Jesus and teaches you a lesson.  Believe it or not, at the tender age of two years and 4-ish months, you are "getting it."  Granted, these lessons are filtered through your little brain, but you are paying attention and actually retaining and remembering the stories.  Now, whether or not they actually match up with Biblical text is up for debate... 

For example:

A few weeks ago, Miss Christene taught the parable of the man who built his house on the rock versus the man who built his house on the sand.  According to the Bible, the man who built his house on the rock remained safe and dry when the rains came down, while the man who built his house on the sand had his house washed away.  Here's the conversation you and I had about this story in the car on the way home that day...
Mommy: What did you learn about in chapel today, Bear?
Ian: The man build his house on the rock, and the man build his house on sand.  The rain comes and the sand WOOSH away (with dramatic arm movements, by the way.)
Mommy:  It did!  Wow!  What happened to the man on the rock?
Ian:  (silent for a bit.)  His house ok, but Mommy, rocks is slipp-lery. 
I don't know if you're allowed to question to question the Bible when you're only two years old, Ian.

Here's another good one:  Miss Christene again taught a parable, but this time it was the parable of the lost sheep.  She brought in a stuffed sheep that she hid to demonstrate the point, and at the right time, someone got to find the sheep.  Yup, it was you.  Your recap of this lesson:
Ian: The man had a lot of sheep, but he losed one.
Mommy: Oh no!  What happened.
Ian:  He found it.
Mommy: That's good.  Who helped him find it?  (I expect to hear "God")
Ian:  Me.  It by Carson.

I have come to absolutely LOVE Thursday afternoons when I get to hear your first take on your chapel lesson.  Since you are in a two day/ three day class, you get to do the special areas twice, and by Friday, you usually have the concepts down, so they are more correct and factual.  But these Ian Interpretations just make my whole Thursday, and I so look forward to them. 

Today is Tuesday, so I have two more days for my Ian-based Religious Education Class, and I can't wait.  I wonder what you're going to learn and come up with next.

I love you,
Mommy