Christian

There are so many things I could say about Christian.  He is an amazing little guy, he has such a sweet heart, he is very loving, smart, creative, and funny.  Many people, sometimes total strangers, have said to me,"He has such a contagious laugh!"  I want to share about my time with Christian lately.

We played a game this afternoon that he brought home from school called "Rolling On."  Here is the "board":

We took turns rolling two dice, counting the total spots on the two dice and then coloring the corresponding box above the number.  The winner of the game was the first number to "reach" the top.  In our game it happened to be six.  He filled in the blank at the bottom with a "6" and I asked if he could write out the word by sounding it out.  He looked up and said the word to himself and wrote an "S" and then figured the rest out.  This is what our finished game board looked like:

 

What are they teaching him over there anyway?! 

Here is a story that I hope will be like a little window into the heart of this complex child of ours.  We are going to a birthday party for a friend of Michaela's tomorrow.  Christian is just as excited as Michaela is and has been looking forward to it all week.  Tonight after I put Eliana down to sleep I came out where Mike and Christian were.  Christian had just brought something out of the schoolroom all wrapped up and was showing it to Mike.  I heard him say that it was the Rainforest book (a book from my parents that is very cool).  I also heard something about giving it away.  I walked in on the tail end of a conversation, I think.  Without asking any questions I said,"We're not giving that book away!" 

Poor Christian!  He was crushed.  His llittle body sagged down, shoulders hunched forward, head drooped, and he started crying.  Mike tried to explain quickly that he had just spent a lot of time wrapping this book as a gift for our friend, and that he was excited to give it to her.  I saw everything in such a different light-what a sweet boy!  He was eager to give up something of his own in order to make someone else happy.  Mike and I both told him how nice that was, and commented on his wrapping job:

Note how he used two different kinds of paper "to make it extra beautiful" for our friend.  He was quite pleased that he had done that all by himself.  Really, he did quite a good job.  I love how thoughtful he is, and how he was totally thinking of someone else in this situation. 

A similar story is from Tuesday.  We were at Christian's soccer game and each boy brings a water bottle for rehydrating after all their running around.  One little boy on Christian's team ran out of water and I heard him go up to his mom and tell her that his water was gone.  A little later I heard her say to Christian,"Way to show kindness to someone else, Christian," because he had poured some of his water into his friend's bottle.  I loved hearing someone else acknowledging his kind choice, building him up so that he can hopefully make more good choices like that one.  He got to see in a very practical way how his small sacrifice benefitted another person. 

My favorite story is actually a video. 

These are just a few things that I think really show Christian's heart.  He's such a sensitive, funny, smart guy.  These are the things I want to cultivate in his character, always with the hope that he will truly grow into his name.

Comments

[jen]

that was soooo cute!!! I love that he knows the lord prayer so inside and out...animated and everything. Sooo sweeeeet!!!