Sibling Rivalry, and a Little Bit of Heaven

Lately, the kids have been getting on each other's nerves. They fight a LOT, scream at each other, and say mean things. I suppose it's a phase that siblings go through from time to time. But, it's been no fun for me, as I'm constantly breaking up ridiculous squabbles about who's looking at who, and who's touching who, etc. When all of this escalated about a week ago, I usually handled the situation by breaking them up and explaining how they were being hurtful/ridiculous/loud/inappropriate...whatever...then they would have to apologize and hug (very reluctantly). The tediousness of it all was making me crazy, as it was happening over and over and OVER again! Just as soon as I would walk away, they were already in each other's faces again.

This morning started off like most mornings have in the last week...with a series of fights. I was lying in bed trying to drag myself out, while the kids were playing in the other room. I was listening intently and all of a sudden Synnove decided to say something really hurtful to Soren for no reason whatsoever. That was the last straw of the morning, as I had already broken up a handful of squabbles already. I called Synnove into my room so that I could talk to her. She's in that lovely "I don't want to" phase where EVERYthing is a horrible inconvenience and she'll stand there in front of me with an awful look on her face, whining and contorting her body in all different directions...like talking to her is inflicting some sort of pain on her. I find it very disrespectful, so about 5 different times during our little 3 minute talk, I ask her to stand up straight and wipe the yucky look off her face. Anyway, I begin to talk to her about what the Bible says about loving one another and treating others as Jesus treats us, blah, blah blah. I tarried a bit in my lecture and also spoke a little bit about Heaven and living forever with Jesus. I was hoping that what I said would give her a bit of perspective.

After that, I went on to make some breakfast. Synnove wanted to help, so she was in the kitchen as well. She then went on to ask me some things about heaven. I can't remember everything she said, but she was obviously very interested in what it would be like to live there forever. She knows that Heaven is a place unlike anything she can imagine...but that doesn't stop her from imagining. Here are a few of the things that she said...

"but there won't be any restaurants there!"
"how will we eat, there won't be any food?"
"how will I get my bed there...how will I sleep if I don't have my bed?"
"Jesus isn't big enough to carry my bed to heaven!"