Simon is a really special kid. He is smart and spunky. Fun-loving and dependable. Sweet, but with a tough exterior. And always with a twinkle of mischief in his eye! And the older he gets, the more I see kindness and an unusual spiritual maturity in him.
He loves singing. Every night he pulls up his shirt so I can scratch his back while I sing him a song. And every night he sings along with me. Last week I had lost my voice, so he sang the lullaby while I scratched his back.
He likes to sit by me in church so we can sing the hymns together. He can read well enough now that he follows along, and sings every word of every hymn. A couple of weeks ago at the Sunday dinner table, we were doing "highs." Simon said his high was singing the songs in sacrament meeting. Way to melt his mother's heart!
Over Thanksgiving the cousins were all sleeping in Grandma and Grandpa's "rumpus room." The movie had ended (it was like 11:00pm) and most of the kids were asleep. Grandpa walked through to turn off the TV and saw Simon upside down on the couch. Thinking he had crashed in an uncomfortable position, he went to help Simon lay down in his bed. But Simon wasn't asleep. Grandpa had accidentally interrupted his personal prayers. All on his own, late at night, this sweet boy was praying to his Heavenly Father.
Tonight Jeff was trying to coax the kids into cleaning up the family room, and Simon was the only one cooperating. After several failed attempts to get the older kids helping, Jeff went and got a stack of fifty one dollar bills and handed them to Simon as a reward! (Perhaps a bit over dramatic, but that's not the point.) Now, to understand the rest of the story, you have to know how much Simon loves money! He is always trying to get people to pay him for things he has done, or sweet talk them into donating to him. So fifty dollars was a dream come true for him!! He had a great time waving it around in front of his incredulous siblings!
But a couple of hours later, he heard Josh lamenting that he didn't have enough money to pay for Christmas presents because he owed money for a broken window. He quietly went and got his whole stack of money and handed it to Josh. "Here Josh. You need this more than I do." I couldn't believe it! Just like that, he was willing to part with that money for his brother. Josh didn't accept the money, but I was so moved by that gesture. What a pure little heart- to give, without hesitation, everything he had.
As I type this, he keeps getting out of his bed to get "one more drink" or to try to explain why Eli deserves the spit on his bed. So I guess he's a pretty typical almost-seven-year-old. Not always an angel.
The scriptures say that Mary "kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." I want to do the same thing with these sweet experiences I have with my children. The best way I know of to "keep" these things, is to write them down. And as I ponder them in my heart, I feel that heart swell with gratitude to my Heavenly Father. What a humbling, joyful privilege it is to be the mother of such an amazing little boy. I can't wait to see the man he will become.
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