This book is called God's Garden, and will be coming out either late this year or early '09 as a picture book.  I don't have the pictures yet, but the words might be a good story to share, or they might give you some ideas for some words of your own.

Danny walked into church with his mom and dad. He had been there many times before, but today they called it a funeral. On the way to church, Danny’s mom explained that Aunt Martha had gone to heaven to be with Jesus and everyone was coming to the church to remember her.   So Danny was confused and afraid when he saw Aunt Martha in a big wooden box they called a casket. “Dad!” he said, tugging on his dad’s jacket. “Why is Aunt Martha in a box? I thought she went to Heaven with Jesus!”   “Sit down, Danny. Let me tell you a story.” Danny and his parents sat in a pew and a woman began to sing a pretty song. “Do you see all those flowers, son? Let me tell you a story about one special flower.” Danny took a deep breath and listened to his dad tell the story.   “There once was a seed. It was tiny and round and didn’t look like very much, but that seed was the spirit of a very beautiful flower. There was a Gardener who knew the perfect place for the seed, a place where it could add beauty and happiness. He planted it, watered it and smiled as he watched it grow.”   “Before long, the seed had grown into a beautiful flower and the Gardener was happy. All of the other flowers were happy, too. The bushes and even the bugs loved the flower. The Gardener’s plan had worked. That little seed brought beauty and happiness where he had planted it.”   “After some time, as all flowers do, the beautiful flower grew old and tired. Its colors faded and its strength left. It could barely continue standing in the breeze. One day, the flower lay down in the garden and died.”   “But that is sad, dad. That’s not a good story.” Danny said.   “I haven’t finished yet.” his dad said. Danny wasn’t sure how the story could get better, but he listened.   “The Gardener saw the dead flower and he did a strange thing. He smiled.”   “But the flower was dead.” Danny said, confused. “Why would he smile?”   Without answering, his dad continued the story.   “The Gardener reached down and pulled a seed from the flower. He looked at the tiny round seed that didn’t look like very much and said ‘Well done, little seed.’ Now this is where the story gets good!”   Danny raised his eyebrows in anticipation.   “The Gardener took the seed to the most beautiful garden. It was more beautiful than any garden anybody has ever seen. It was filled with everything from moss to flowers to mighty oak trees and everything else you can imagine. The Gardener had a special place saved for the seed and he planted it again. The seed again became a flower, but even more beautiful than before. The wonderful part is that in this garden, the flower lived forever. It would never die.”   Danny smiled, but his dad could see he was still confused.   “Do you know who the Gardener is?” his dad asked. Danny shrugged his shoulders. “The Gardener is God. Your Aunt Martha is the flower, but her spirit is the seed and her spirit didn’t die. She lived here with us in our world, like in a garden, and helped make it a beautiful place. Now God has taken her spirit to Heaven with Jesus.”   Danny understood and got excited. “And Heaven is like the most beautiful garden where flowers never die. She is a new flower again!”   “That’s it.” His dad smiled and pat Danny’s knee.   Danny learned that Aunt Martha wasn’t really in the casket. That was only her body, like a flower. Her spirit, like the seed, was in a new wonderful place with Jesus. The funeral was a time to remember her time with us, but more importantly to celebrate her spirit and know that we would see her again in Heaven, in God’s Garden.   S.D.G.

sorry about the format.  When I cut-n-pasted it, the site turned it into one big block.  I can email it as an attatchment if that would make it easier to read.

Thanks Kevin, No need to email it to me, it was great reading and I'll print it out to remind me....it has given me great food for thought and hopefully will give me some better ways to explain it.  I am still dealing with it myself, and it's easier some days than others....even though she was ready to join her family in heaven, it was tough to let her go and explain it to the boys...maybe I should have let Colby go to the funeral....her casket was open in the entrance to the church in the morning, and I really didn't want that to be his final memory of her.  Plus, I had a really difficult time with it that day as well.  I guess we all make decisions that we think are best for our kids...and I thought I was making the best decision at the time.  I am thankful to have tons of pictures with my grandma and the boys - those are SO precious to me and them too!

Well, I have to say - the feature my blog received in Monday's paper was received with some interesting comments from those I know on an acquaintence level....  Today, I went to Target to pick up prescriptions that were ready and one of our  favorite Pharmacy techs was working today....she saw me and said, with a relieved smile on her face..."I saw your boys in the paper and thought something bad had happened....like one had died!  I really had to stop and read the article, before I really could calm down."  I reassured her that my 94 year old grandma had passed and that both boys were doing very well at home with dad today...and I thanked her for her kindness - she is so sweet and always goes the extra mile and a half to make the medicine taste extra grape-bubblegummy for my 4 year old, Caden.  (He won't take it unless it tastes like grape bubblegum and his favorite lady at Target flavors it - pretty funny!)  He will even demand a "taste on his finger" first, before we leave the counter/register area.  Yet, she smiles and encourages him to take his medicine and finish it all....we have seen her (and all the others at the pharmacy) on a regular basis with his asthma-related issues this past year.

I have received emails from friends and those who have counseling backgrounds with great suggestions!  Thank you all so much for the great suggestions!  I hope that there are others out there who are encouraged and helped by my blogs and the info. that I will continue to post - like books that I find that are great (including Kevin Morrison's book), graciously shared on his post above.  It has fit perfectly with the Beth Moore bible study I am working on this summer - and I am using the tools graciously provided to help us all understand God's plan a little more and to heal everyone in the family.  Today, my grandma's trailer was brought home from the beach, where it had been stored for her use for some 16 years now.  She and my grandpa traveled until he passed away, and then she decided she wanted to store it there and go to stay at her trailer and enjoy the cool weather and her friends.  This was a difficult evening for us all, at least it was for me.  Seeing the trailer being pulled and parked in front of grandma's house to be emptied and cleaned out was painful and bittersweet.  We all heard grandma say she wanted her trailer brought home last fall; however, it was not possible at the time.  Now, it was almost surreal, I suppose.  Watching my sons jumping in and out of the trailer, wanting to know when we could come back to help clean out the trailer and how were we going to tow the trailer to take it on a trip?  The boys will be up early tomorrow morning (now, this morning) NO DOUBT!  They are looking forward to helping me pick apricots off the tree in great-grandma's yard (to make apricot preserves) and they love to help clean things up - like sweep and dust the trailer, which Colby has now informed his dad and I, is a "girl trailer" because great-grandma was a girl...