Dear God...

I have to brag on my son when opportunities arise, because I've shared some pretty harrowing tales of motherhood on my blog, mostly involving diaper ointment and baby powder. There was also a recent incident at my brother's NEW house involving purple nail polish and a white carpet. But I won't go into that. :-) Let's just say that Jon & Ashley were very gracious and that Melaleuca's Sol-U-Mel saved the day.

But as full of energy, curiosity, and mischief as he can often be, there are many, many times each day when I see his tender heart, mostly toward Laney. He is so incredibly caring to her, and although I know they'll go through spats while they're growing up, I pray that someday they'll return to this sweet friendship they have going on right now. I feel confident they will.

So while I like sharing the humor and awe involved in some of his schemes, I really love sharing the endearing moments that we get to see at home. A few nights ago, Josh was at work, and I was praying with Kaden before bedtime. He rarely wants to pray himself; he much prefers drinking his milk in silence and letting Josh or me do all the talking. Which is fine with me because I know he's listening and learning with every word we say. So I prayed like usual, and then we talked for a few minutes and Kaden (in all his stalling glory) asked me to pray again. At this point, I usually suggest he prays, and he normally responds, "Mama pray, Mama pray." But for some reason, he agreed. So his prayer went something like this...

Me: Dear God, thank you for this day.
Kaden (repeating): Dear God, thank you for this day.
Me: [starting to say something else to repeat]
Kaden: [ignores me and starts praying on his own!]

Thank you for fun. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for Daddy work. Thank you for Jeremy. Thank you for Uncle Jon's truck [This was a carryover from our PA trip--my brother just got a new truck.] Thank you for toe-food. [Kaden-speak for tofu...we had it for dinner that night.] Thank you for flowers. [Or "leaves" as the rest of us call them. Our property is full of trees!] Thank you for Laney. Mama pray...Mama pray.

And then I realized it was my turn again. :-) His cute little voice praying to God made my heart melt. It was certainly a simple prayer, but oh!...so sweet. Kaden's very interested in heaven and God right now. He'll point out the window or look up into the sky and say, "Look! I see him!", referring to God. The small steps we're taking to teach Kaden to know, love, and enjoy Christ have already been such a joy to me. And more than anything, my prayer is that my kids will be able to look at my life and see a resemblance of Jesus. When they see my faith in action, I want them to be able to say, "Look! I see him!"

By God's grace, may it be so!