Learning about life and death

Last week our parakeet died...David took the news very hard, but since then we have had many rather deep discussions. He wanted to know things like "Will Sparky be in Heaven?" (we discussed how animals are different than people, because they don't have souls like people do); "What will happen to Sparky in the ground?" (we discussed how God designed it so that Sparky's body will help add to the soil, improving it for plants to grow); "Will Sparky come alive again?" (we talked about death being final, that we have one life to live, and again the difference between animals' and people's bodies both dying but the people having an eternal soul)...it was hard to watch David grieve our pet but wonderful to watch him work through everything and really understanding it. Last night he prayed very matter-of-factly, "...and thank you for Sparky...I know he's dead...thank you that he will help the soil and the ground..."