Love this guy

I had a very random and precious conversation with my son yesterday. In the car on the way home from errands (which is where several interesting conversations take place), Addison out of nowhere started talking about mosquito "nuts" for the kids. I had no idea what he was talking about until he began explaining that the kids in Africa get sick and die from the mosquitos biting them. Then I realized that they had talked about mosquito NETS, and he said they had talked about buying some in children's church. He was speaking about this very passionately (as those of you that know him know he does), and then he said something that just melted my heart and brought a tear to my eye. He said, "Mommy, I can bring my whole piggy bank to church. They only cost like ten dollars, and I might have ten dollars in my piggy bank." He went on to say that we needed to buy the nets for ALL of the children in Africa.

As a mother, it is so special to start to see these glimpses of your child's heart as they get older. Addison has such a huge and tender little heart and a sensitive and caring spirit. When he prays, without fail, he will always include everyone in the WHOLE world. And for a kid, he has never thought much about that money in that piggy bank. I don't even know how much is in there- mostly consisting of tooth fairy money and random collections- he doesn't get an allowance or anything at this point. But to him, it is a great treasure of large amounts. And he has never once wanted to get that money out and buy a toy with it. His first mention of it was quite a while back wanting to save it to help him go to school (mother's day out at the time). Since that time he has offered his piggy bank to help daddy pay for late fees at the video store and other random things. Always suggesting it to help out and not for himself. I think that this quality in a five year old boy is very precious, and I know God is going to do something with that. We will do all we can as parents to help foster that generousity in his spirit. I think that's one of the coolest things about being a parent. We get to see these gifts and talents that God placed in our children, and we actually get to help in the process of crafting and molding them into what God intended them to be. It's actually kind of scary at the same time. Lord help us to make good decisions on behalf of our kids!

We are absolutely going to let him take that whole piggy bank to church and proudly offer it up with all his heart. And it makes me want to pour a ton of money back into it! Hope that little story made you smile and perhaps challenged and encouraged the generousity in your own heart today. Peace out from the Pate house.