Quotable Pearl, age 5

A week ago Sunday, Will’s mother and brother came to visit us. For several days beforehand, I’d plotted how and when to clean and de-clutter, and my good intentions had been repeatedly thwarted. The night before their arrival, I was bemoaning my total failure as a housekeeper when this Pearl of wisdom flowed from my 5-year-old’s lips: “Gramma C and Uncle S won’t care about the mess, Mommy. They’ll only care about the children.”

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Yesterday in children’s church, those present reported to us later, Pearl explained the theological concept of temptation to her peers using this analogy: “God is the superhero because he makes all the good things happen. The Devil is the villain because he makes all the bad things happen. When we make bad things happen, we’re all villains, too.” And there you have it, kids—temptation, in a nutshell: Resist the urge to be villainous.

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In keeping with her development as a saint-in-the-making: This morning before school I ran a bath for Pearl—her hair needed washing. I brought a bright pink plastic cup from the kitchen with which to douse her head and she demanded: “What in the hills is that for?!”