Lunar Eclipse

I almost forgot about the total Lunar eclipse tonight! It was already underway when dh and I went outside. It was so exciting, I quickly called our oldest son, 12 year old Jack, to come out and watch. I ran in to see if the middle boys were still awake.

When I opened their door, and said, “Are you boys awake in here?” they acted like they were sleeping…dad had already warned them once tonight that they needed to stop talking and get to bed. I quickly said, “Get up and come outside right now! There’s a lunar eclipse!”

Eight year old Knox must have thought I said, “FIRE!” because he ran outside in his underwear shouting “What’s a lunar eclipse?” We decided to let the boys stay up to watch. When the moon came from behind the clouds it was red. Cool! Six year old Colin thought it looked like the Eye of Sauron.

When Knox went inside to get dressed, Colin, Jack and I saw a shooting star. It was so awesome. They had never seen one before. It was fun to hear them talking about Orion’s belt, the Big and Little Dippers, Mars and Betelgeuse. They remember more of the Astronomy we studied last year than I do!

I ran inside to make hot chocolates. Colin told his brothers, “That’s why I love watching eclipses: for the hot chocolate” (this from someone who didn’t know what an eclipse was just ten minutes ago). Every time the moon came out from behind the clouds the boys would shout “Come on mom, you’re missing it!” I would set the hot chocolate things aside and run out. No sooner would I get outside than the moon would go back behind the clouds. After this happened a couple times, Colin said, “Mom, don’t make so much noise when you come out! Then it won’t know you are coming!” and Knox chimed in, “Mom, the moon likes you, but the clouds don’t.”

It was so fun to sit outside with blankets and hot chocolate in the crisp night air, watching something none of us had ever seen before. What a blessing to have that time together. We talked about how far away the stars are. I asked the boys, “If a star is 1 million light years away, how could its light reach us if the earth is young?” Big Brother Jack knew the answer. “God created the stars for man. He made everything mature. When He made the stars, He made them so we could see them here on the earth.”

“Yes, that’s right. Adam was a full grown man when God created him. The Garden of Eden was not just earth and seeds…the trees were fully grown. And the stars, sun and moon were made for man. God created them mature, with the light already able to be seen on the earth.”

I was feeling pretty good. Science, check. Devotions, check. Maybe we could sleep in tomorrow! Then Jack chimed in with this doozie: “Mom, I heard someone say on the History Channel that humans are made up of parts of recycled stars. That’s dumb, isn’t it!”

Knox piped up, “Yeah. I mean, if that were true, how would the star parts get into the mom’s womb, huh? Answer that!”

Colin, not to be left out, said, “Maybe they think the moms eat the stars, thinking they are marshmallows!”

Science….uncheck. Yes, they remember their astronomy. But maybe we need some biology lessons!