In Honor of our Jess

Seven years ago today I gave birth to our precious baby girl, Jessica Logan Street, our little "Jester". Jessie has given me many gifts in her short time on the earth, one of which I will now share with you, in honor of this special day.

Jessie's Picture

Two months after the fire, I walked out to our car for the first time – the car we left in Houston when we moved, the car our son was born in – and discovered a crayon drawing left in the back of the car, up on the shelf by the back window. The drawing has Jessie’s name on it. She must have drawn this picture in church school just before we moved or it wouldn’t have been left it in the car; it would’ve been packed with all the other drawings.

It is a picture of our family. And it is very prophetic, filled with Christian symbolism. Look at her drawing, and I will explain.


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Here are four figures – you can tell who is who. And the three of them, Mycol, Austin, and Jess, are colored entirely purple. They all have smiles, big smiles, on their faces. I, on the other hand, have a black body but a purple head. I am the only figure who has a yellow covering, or glow, around the top of my head. From behind me, at the top of my head and arching outward, is a rainbow. There’s a black cloud in the sky.

Think about color association: purple is the color of royalty, the color of our King. Our King is Jesus Christ. The three of them are entirely purple but only my head is.

The head is knowledge.

The body is emotion.

My feelings are of grief, but I do know the Truth. That is why my body is black – I am allowed my grief – but my head is purple – even in my grief I DO KNOW the Truth.

The yellow covering over my head is God’s Grace and Love - He is with me, and the rainbow is the sign of the Promise - here is God's personal promise to me. There is a black cloud, the tragedy, but even so, we are all together in the picture.

This is the only complete drawing I will ever have from the kids. I believe God directed Jessie’s hand in drawing this picture and purposely had it left there for me, to show me that He was there, before the fire, during the fire, and He is with me now; He knows how I hurt, and He knows the end of the story.

Jessie always knew she'd be moving to Heaven, and her strong conviction often gives me strength. I call this one of my “faith boosters,” a gift from God and Jess, and appropriate to share in honor of our Baby Girl on this day.

Jess drew this about the time she turned four.

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