Bryce - movin' up

Tonight was Bryce's last grade school class at church. All throughout the 5th grade year the kids study about heaven. Since Christmas, they have been making models of heaven in small groups based on their understanding from the Bible's description. On the last night of class, the kids present their models of heaven to the Elders. Being in such a large church, it is a great opportunity for the Elders to get to know and interact with the kids and vice-versa. They assigned two kids to each Elder. As the teacher went around the room introducing the kids to their Elder, I couldn't help but be proud of my extreme extrovert when she got to him and said "... and of course you all know Bryce!" The kids then got to take their Elder to the model they helped build to tell them all about it. The Elders expressed appreciation for seeing heaven through the creative eyes of a child - one was also glad to see that his cat could potentially be in heaven too!

Following the model presentation, the Elders presented the kids with a Bible and a book about creation (opposing the theory of evolution). At the end of class three things happened that gave me an insight into my boys and the impact they leave on others:

1) Bryce's teacher wanted to give him two additional books from her shelves that he had been interested in - a 'where to find it in the bible' book and a New Testament that walks you through teaching the bible to someone else,

2) I met a lady that I had not met before (an elders wife, I'm embarrassed to admit), as soon as I told her who I was she said, "Oh! Austin's mom! I LOVE that kid!", and...

3) one of the elders walked up to Bryce and asked him what his plans were for the summer - to which Bryce's response was 'video games' (sigh!) - and then told him that he would like to take he and Austin to play golf some this summer.

What an awesome feeling it is to see that other people think so highly of our kids! But I have to admit, I think my most proud moment of the evening came before we ever got to the church building. As soon as Bryce finished dinner he ran off to his room to get changed for church. This is not at all unusual since we have never allowed them to where shorts to church. However, he emerged in dress pants, a dress shirt, and a tie (quite different from his typical jeans & t-shirt, Wednesday church dress). To which I said, "It's Wednesday, you don't need to dress up!" Without hesitation Bryce said, "Mom, I'm meeting with Elder's and presenting my model to them." I admit, I tried talking him into changing a couple more times with the same argument every time. It took me a while to realize that he was exercising the value of RESPECT that we have tried to instill in him! He wasn't about to meet the Elders without looking his best. That's why, looking back on it, this is my proudest moment of the evening...

By the way, the cute girl in the red and white dress is his little sweetheart :) - they've been each others 'dates' to the summer camp banquet for the last two years and he's already asked her for this year too.