I love it! "duh mom!"...lol...I love the way kids can see things much more clearly that adults can sometimes. It's so very obvious to them. I have always taught our kids that the reason God gave Adam the animals first, was for practice. He let him experience what it meant to take care of something that was his responsibility. I told them that is why God gave us pets and domestic animals (at one time we had a regular petting zoo w/ pygmy goats, pot belly pigs, chickens, rabbits, ducks and even a rescued turkey!).

I reasoned, if God made sure Adam had 'dominion over' (responsibility of care) these small things, these sometimes helpless and needful things, BEFORE he had the relationship w/ a PERSON...then it must be a lesson to us, to prepare us for the necessary behaviors to deal with someONE under our care.

Now, if that is the case, and we are told 'the Lion will lay down with the Lamb', and not a sparrow falls that God does not see...if we can have other physical things of Earth in Heaven, why would we not have our pets who can feel so much like 'family'?

I remember reading the "Little House" books as a teen and having my daughter read them when she was even younger...when Jack, the brindle bulldog dies, Laura asks Pa about him going to Heaven...Pa says something to the effect of Jack being a good dog, a good companion, and how he could see God leaving one like him 'out in the cold'. We are left with a picture in our minds and hearts of Jack young and healthy, running across the prairie.

I've always imagined that since God wants us to have the desires of our hearts here on earth, how much more so when we are with Him in eternity? We will be in constant Praise and Worship of Him in our existence...maybe that's just another way of saying that everything we do, think or take part in will Honor Him...including having those beloved pets back in our lives, all living together in harmony.

Blessings~

Suzi