Boyz 2 Men

This is the view from my front porch.
Lest you think we live out in the middle of nowhere,
that's a small bank of trees between us and the
road in front of us. We are on a hill looking over
a subdivision. We're not out in the boonies.
But I am always thankful for the trees around the
perimeter of our property come spring and fall.
They are beautiful both of those times of year.
Probably more so in the fall. But I'm kind of partial
to fall. I am sure I've just never ever told you
how much I like this time of year.


Speaking of
things that
I really love,
here are my beautiful babes on Saturday, getting ready to go knock on a few relatives' doors and drive off with all of their candy. We did distribute the pumpkin muffins this year and I think that went over well.
This picture was taken just after we stopped one of the little contests that spring every moment out of nothing. I am speaking of my sons and their competitive nature. I distintly remember one day when Sweet T was a very small guy and Big E (who was still a little guy himself) was showing me how fast he could run from one point to the next. Sweet T watched carefully and as soon as Big E was finished, he said "I faster!" And it was like somebody pushed a button that day. They compete over just about anything. Drives me crazy. Even in taking this picture---their father instructed them to cross their light sabers for the picture. They did this, but Sweet T ever so slightly moved his just about an inch higher than Big E's. So of course Big E had to slip his light saber just an inch tallen than Sweet T's. And so it was until Lloyd Dobbler said, "Stop!" I wonder what this will translate into as they get older and how the dynamics will change when Baby J is big enough to join in. My dad and his brothers are fiercly loyal and tightly knit together but they are so competitive and always have been. And I have known other brothers who have been this way to the point of insanity. I just gaze into the future sometimes and wonder how these things will develop and change over time. Will they be fighting over a girl someday?

It's hard for me to imagine
what these little guys of mine
will be like when they are men.
That just seems so very far
into the future,
but I know that we are
laying the foundations
for that manhood
right now.

This makes me realize
that I need to be
paying attention to what I am doing.
I need to be doing a better job!
But I know from time to time
I do something right. I was thinking
about this today when we were going over

our Bible verses. I love the Scripture memory system

we use. It's so easy and so effective. The one who
seems to have the best skill with the memory verses
right now is Big E. He has the best recall of my three
verse quoters and he usually can quote the verse without
a "first word" prompt. And I try to really applaud him
for this (not literally applaud him) because I want him
to see this as a hugely important thing. Sure it's great
to be a good soccer player or whatever else he tries to
succeed at. But I want him to see that I value his
efforts in spiritual matters more than anything else.
What's going to help him in future life?
Having God's word hidden in his heart will help him
more than anything else I can implant in him.

I'm also teaching him to clean toilets.
All my boys will clean the toilets as they grow up
(once they are big enough to learn).
Because really, who makes the bathroom nasty?
Is it women? No. It's not.