adventures with A

After wrestling the boys through three sessions of Conference, I was so glad when Mandi and Nate came over this afternoon with their girls.  And all of the kids went to the backyard for most of the blissful hours of the last session.  After the closing prayer, I came down and found my Aidan in this get-up. 

With these weapons:

The boy cracks me up.  He is caught somewhere between small and big.  Still easily swallowed up in imaginative play, but more and more intrigued by the realities of the grown up world (the serious way he approaches his school work both warms & worries me).  And he has melted my heart more than once this week. 

Last night Cyndee and I took the boys to Target (hence the new skeleton p.j.'s).  After shopping, we got to the car and were distracted for a minute as Davyn lost his shoe jumping out of the cart.  When that chaos settled, we turned to see that both front doors of Cyn's car were wide & welcomingly open.  And A stood behind an open backseat door beaming.  I desperately want to raise little gentlemen, so I beamed, too. 

But last Monday was what really melted my heart.  It was around 4 pm when Aidan decided that he wanted to be in charge of FHE that night.  I gladly said yes, with little idea of what to expect.  And he anxiously went about making props for the lesson.  When FHE time arrived, I'm not sure what stunned me more - his lesson or his demeanor.  The lesson was about missionary work.  He eagerly gave us each name tags that we taped to our shirts (why didn't I take pictures of this?!).  He told us we could be missionaries in two ways - by being kind and by teaching people about Jesus.  Short, sweet & sincere.  Then there was his whole demeanor.  Fully earnest and surprisingly reverent, he wanted to conduct as well.  He stood (sans coaching) and stated, "I'd like to welcome you all to Family Home Evening tonight."  My heart thumped as my mind was impressed that this boy will be a great leader some day.  I looked at Jim looking at his boy, and saw that he had felt the same. 

Raising sons humbles me.  Future priesthood holders.  Future missionaries.  Future leaders of families and congregations.  

For closing music, he chose, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", a primary song notorious for being accompanied with shouts and bounces.  When the last note ended, he proudly stated, "I didn't even jump or yell during the song this time."  Indeed.  My boy is growing up.

Comments

[April]

"Raising sons humbles me." This reminded me of Elder Scott's talk (which David relayed to me) about the need for priesthood holders to bless Heavenly Father's daughters. I can tell these boys are sure to bless you in myriad ways, and overwhelming to think of all the other people they came to bless.

[Shanon]

That is just adorable about the FHE, the door opening and everything!! What a little man! Love the whole fighting get up. We did the same thing with our kids and some friends for conference. SO much easier and quieter!

[Marie]

That is a great FHE. I occationally will teach the lesson and then swap places with the kids and have them teach it back to me to see how well they have got it. I am always delighted with what they say. But I have never thought of letting them do one solo. That could be fun.

[Jill]

I would love to see the missionary tags he made for you guys. What a sweetheart. I am always surprised by the lessons my kids give at FHE. They have said some pretty profound things and are so much more comfortable teaching us than I ever was as a kid.

[Megan]

I LOVE the P.J.'s, my boys would go nuts over them. I can't believe how Aidan is growing up, it's crazy. He reminds me of Talin with his earnestness for the Gospel. It is humbling to raise boys, I couldn't agree with you more!

[Tiffany]

Those would melt any mother's heart. What gems you have.

[Kelly]

I love how you documented the weapons cache. He's a fabulous boy, and I am enjoying getting to know him in person bit by bit. Hopefully he will stay in that somewhere between little and big for a long while.

PQ calls that song "Sun-beeps".

[Kay]

"There is no greater joy than knowing your children walk in truth." Since grandchildren are just a wonderful continuation, knowing they also walk in truth is as good as it gets. He's quite a young man; growing up so nicely. He melts me all the time too. Love him. Love you all.

[michelle]

Raising boys is humbling indeed!

[Rachel]

A melted mother's heart for sure!!

I already said I get dibs on one of your boys for one of my girls. By your silence, I am taking that as agreement. :)

[Leilani]

I love your writing. What a responsibility it is to raise good sons. Isn't it fun to see a glimpse of who they are becoming.

[Aprilyn]

What a sweet boy and a wonderful memory. My Nathan (now almost 10) is quite the same way. He still, at age 9, will go play imaginary games with all kinds of weapons. He loves it! Marshall loves it when they both get swords and guns and go "fight the bad guys".

As Cubmaster, I see lots of boys. The Cub Scout (and Boy Scout) program is chartered by our Church. It's such a great program, and if they do everything their very best, the things they do will help them be better Boy Scouts, better young men. We ARE raising future missionaries, priesthood holders, Dads. Even the boy in my Pack who is not a member of the church needs to adopt the qualities that Cub Scout teaches. It's not about earning a Badge, it's about learning to be better young men.