echo echo echo....

It is amazing how much our children hear and repeat. Like a little echo following us around the house. I have never been someone who typically used bad language, but having a little echo makes you realize how even nice words can have an angry tone. Sometimes when I get angry I get loud. Scott would say I am always loud, but that's another story. When I get upset I tend to grunt and growl around the house. And now my little echo does the same thing.
He is a loud little boy!
Fortunately, he repeats the good stuff too. I have gotten into the habit of trying ask Scott lots of questions when he comes home. I really love to hear his stories from work and it is nice to talk to an adult...sometimes for the first time that day! I guess I always say "How was your day?", because the first thing Danny says now to his Daddy in the afternoon is "How was your day, Daddy?" He is so proud of himself, especially since we told him what a nice boy he is to ask that. And our meal time prayer has become a family affair. We have never pushed Danny to pray with us. We just ask him if he wants to pray and proceed to hold hands. Sometimes he joins in, but sometimes he is too excited about what is on his plate. I never want him to feel like talking to God is a chore or a requirement-"or else" kind of thing. When he is older, we can go into more detail about why we thank God at meal times. But just a few weeks ago, he started asking to be the one to talk to God. I think tears came to my eyes when he said his prayer.
Mommy: Do you want to pray?
Danny: Sure...open shut them open shut them(little rhyme we do at church to get our hands in a prayer position)
Mommy: You can talk to God...
Danny: ok..(And this was not prompted)
Dear God
Thank you for our blessing.
Amen

wow.

And I also love that he enjoys praying at night and reading his little bible. He is napping right now, so I can't get the book to tell you the title, but it is a great easy bible to start with. It is a hard back small book with flip up flaps on each story. There are maybe 20 stories and they include actual bible verses that relate to each story. His favorite stories....Jonah and the Big Fish, The Big Lunch(Jesus feeding many with small lunch), and Jericho.

I pray that my children will have a deeper relationship with Jesus than I could ever imagine. I also pray that God will use their life experiences to mold and grow them into Godly men. I just never thought that I would see the fruit of that at such an early age. And I also see with great clarity how important my example is in this stage of life. Maybe in every stage. But I know for sure that right now he is watching Scott and I and deciding what kind of person he wants to become. And that scares me silly! I have nothing good to offer and it is only through God's power that I am trying to live obediently and faithfully. And I fail a lot!! But I pray that God would help us to grow as a family and that someday I will be looking to my boys for Godly counsel and truth!

And for now, I watch what I say!