Book 23: The boy who came back from heaven, a true story by Kevin and Alex Malarkey
My bible study group takes off the summers... but we sometimes feel a strong need to continue connecting. This summer we decided to do a book club and read a book and discuss it from the Catholic mom perspective. So in April, we decided to read The boy who came back from heaven. Now I am going to divert for a moment...
When College Boy was going to start Kindergarten, we went to the school and looked around. We met one of the Kindergarten teachers and I filled out a form (with help from a staff member) to help get my boy placed in this teacher's class. WHY? Because College Boy had had a poor experience in a Mom's Morning Out program where he was labeled "bad". In reality, he was "bored". And I yanked him out of that program a solid 2 months prior to the end of the year when I had observed what was happening to my boy. His next year in preschool had gone BEAUTIFULLY with 2 caring women as his teachers, slowly rebuilding his self-esteem. However, he was very apprehensive about going off to Kindergarten and being "bad" again. He bonded with the Kindergarten teacher we met and was from that point on excited about going to his new school. Then the welcome letter came and we discovered he was NOT in the class with the nice lady we'd met. OY! Call to the staff member friend resulted in learning the teacher we did get had declared during Spelling Camp that it wasn't camp unless they had S'mores. Now, that's my kind of gal! In the end, it was a wonderful placement for College Boy and he has grown into a fine young man, full of positive self-esteem. BUT, I have always said that God gave me that teacher not for College Boy, but for Teen Boy who had her 2 years later. Under the sweet teacher that we didn't get, CB would have been fine, but TB would have been IN CHARGE. Never a good thing for a 5 year old to be in charge of a group!
BACK TO THE BOOK... This book is inspiring! Did I ask questions? SURE. Did I question why? YES! But the reality, is that this young man is truly a gift from Heaven. And he has had to fight to be here on Earth in spite of the fact that I truly think he'd rather be in Heaven. This book is a testimony to faith and God and Angels and prayer. It has inspired me to create a prayer journal for my nightly ritual because I do think that it (prayer) is powerful and that I could be better at it. So I really encourage you to try this story. As a mother, parts of it were horrifying. As a wife, some of it was incredible. As a person of faith, this book is a testimony. And Cheshire Cat... this is a read for you. I am sure now like I was sure when Teen Boy went to Kindergarten that the Lord put this book in my hands so that it would find its way to you.
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