The Older Boys

So it is glaringly obvious to me that my older boys do not get as much "airtime" as the munchkins. They aren't around as much (sigh) plus as they grow they tend to mellow out a bit. But every now and then conversations occur that bring a smile to my face for days on end. Before we get to the fun conversations we first need to visit a paper Shane brought home from school this week. He was learning about fact and opinions and he had to fill in the blanks with the first word that came to his mind. Here is his list:

Teachers are............Kind.
Mothers are.............Awesome (woohoo)
Kittens are...............Cute
Babies are................Nice
Old people are.........Smart
My neighbors are....Cool
Girl Scouts are.........Weird
Football players are......Sweet

My favorite was that girl scouts are weird. So typical for a boy that age.

Last week I took Judah out on his date night. We rotate a different child every week until Mark has taken them all on a date and then we begin the rotation again with myself. And then it goes back to Mark. You get the idea. Anyhow, my last date with Judah he wanted to go crayfish hunting which we did and I must admit was extremely fun!! This time we got ice cream. On the way to Dairy Queen we somehow got on the subject of heaven. Cannot remember how our conversation went in that direction. In my opinion the most important part of the whole conversation was his dismay at realizing that hunting may not be a priority in heaven. In fact, he feels like if there is no hunting in heaven that, that will be a huge drawback for people even wanting to go there. I assured him that if hunting continues to be extremely important in heaven that I am sure God will make sure he gets to hunt. What else do you say to his dismay?

On another day Judah, Shane and I sat at the table and they brought up baptism. Both expressing a desire to be baptized but not wanting it to happen in front of a lot of people. They said just family and cousins. They would prefer to be baptized in the creek at the cabin which I think is awesome!!! Anyway, as we talked I realized Judah was getting more and more quiet. Shane was asking questions and talking but Judah wasn't. After a few minutes he said kind of hesitantly, "Um....if I get baptized.....(long pause).....can I still have a fist fight?" I am sure my eyes about popped out of my head as I felt a desperate need to laugh but I also knew he was dead serious! I said to him, "Are you planning on having a fist fight?" He assured me he isn't planning on it. What Mark and I were able to gather from him was that he thought if you are baptized you can never do anything wrong again. And what if sometime he found himself in a fight? What would happen? Of course we talked for a while about the symbolism of baptism and how it does not magically make you faultless. It seems as though he understood the weight of publicly professing his heart for Jesus and he doesn't want to do something in haste. For which I quietly applauded him!! Who knows? Maybe the next time we converge on Slate Run the boys will be baptized in the creek!