He's really getting it

Last night, one of the best things since I became a parent happened to me.

I have been working with Colin, just a little bit here and there for the last few months, on learning simple Bible verses. He of course knows the all-time standby favorite, "Children, obey your parents in all things." We use that one pretty often.

And he knows a few others:
"Be ye kind, one to another" (that's a frequent one when you have two brothers!)
"And the child grew, and became strong...." (our children's church verse of the week--complete with motions!)
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right."

We're big on those obedience ones. If you couldn't tell.

I have always wanted to start helping the boys learn memory verses, but never really knew quite what to do or how to do it...they are still young, and I didn't really know if the capabilities were there for that quite yet.

Until Cameron started quoting entire verses to me.

"The tile gew, and 'came stong." "Be kine one to 'nudder." "Tilden, obey your penents in all tings."

That's little people talk for "the child grew and became strong" and " Be kind, one to another" and "Children, obey your parents in all things."

That's when little Cameron taught me a very big thing: if he has the capability to memorize verses, then Colin certainly does.

And, it's not like I don't think Colin's smart. I do, very much. As my family has known for some time, he is my prodigy. :-) He knows a lot of things, and I am constantly teaching him more, as I believe it is my job as his mother to do so.

He knows his ABC's. He can recognize about 80% of them, and can identify about 50%. He is also starting to write them as well. He knows his numbers, up to twenty. He knows all his shapes, colors, and lots of concepts. He knows lots of songs....you get the idea.

I don't know why I thought he wasn't ready to do verses.

Anyway, once I realized that both of them were ready, I needed a way to keep verse memorization in the forefront--something to remind me to work with them on it each day. Someone gave me the idea to do a little 'table tent'. Take a 3x5 card and fold it in half; write the verse on one side, and the reference on the other. Then, leave it on your table, where you are at least three times per day. It will be right there and ready for conversation when you sit down.

What a great idea.

So, Thursday morning, up it went. And, we started working on it. Where did we start? In the very beginning.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1.

Thursday and Friday we would say it, over and over....but Colin never really said it all the way through by himself. He got lots of bits and pieces, and threw in as many words as he could, but wasn't completing the whole thing. I thought, "Well, it's only been two days....I have to give it some time."

Jump ahead about a few hours. Shane and I came home from our date night last night, and were putting the boys to bed--doing the whole nighttime routine of brushing teeth, washing faces, going potty, getting drinks, etc. Cameron was done and in his bed, and Colin and I were finishing up. Out of nowhere, he turned to me, and clear and complete as could be he said:

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genet 1:1. (That's not a spelling error--he didn't quite get the reference--but it was really close.)

I looked at him and just absolutely LIT up. I smiled, and grabbed him, and hugged him, and congratulated him on how well he had just said the verse. Of course, then, he said it again, just as well as he had said it before. It was a great moment for me.

Then came something even better.

I said to him, "Colin, how did you do that? Did you work with Grandma on your verse tonight?"

And he said, "No mom.....God helped me say it!"

Unbelievable. Beyond learning his ABC's, concepts, and numbers, his realization and understanding that God was helping him learn his verses was the greatest thing he has learned in the short four years he has been on this earth.

And I couldn't have been more proud of him.