Since Mister and I have been married my nephew has gotten to come over a few times each week during the summer. When we lived in apartments we would enjoy the pool, Callaway, and pretty-much-whatever-he-wanted-to-do. That could be tie-dyeing shirts or, like yesterday, making a lady bug house. Don't get me started on that! If it works, I'll let you in on it!

This week marked our first day together for the summer of 2013. I was a little worried, since Colt is here, that he wouldn't have as good of a time... or that I wouldn't either! I still wanted to give my nephew the attention I wanted to AND take care of Colt. We ended up having a fabulous day! We pretty much wore ourselves out on that stupid lady bug house and most of our day was spent doing chores, but that  didn't stop us from getting in some great family time. I loved watching him get excited as he looked for eggs to gather in the chicken coop, cut down stalks of bamboo, and, as a break from all that hard work, try to pummel me with water balloons.

We kept Colt with us for all except the water balloon fight and the cleaning of the coop, for obvious reasons. But for the rest, we stuck him in his jogging stroller and dragged him all over the yard with us. As we were cutting the bamboo into smaller pieces for our lady bug house and casting protective glances over at Colt to make sure he was alright, my nephew asks, "DuhDuh (that's his name for me, even though he's ten he still says it), what kind of person do you want Colt to grow up to be?"

Wow.

A ten year old.

Little did he know that's the question I've been answering in my head and the prayer I've been praying in my heart for the past several months.

So, what kind of person do I want Colt to grow up to be?

First and foremost, I want him to love Jesus above all else.

I want him to be wild and free - to know when and how to have fun and be full of joy. I want him to be dangerous in the most safe and manly way possible. I want him to be compassionate. I want him to be bold. I want him to be strong and courageous; unafraid of standing up for what is right. I want him to be discerning and know and believe in right and wrong. I want him to be a defender of the widow and the orphan and not see kindness as weakness. I want him to be a leader and not a follower. I want...

I want...

I want...

I pray. Daily. As many times as it comes to mind. Oh, LORD, hear my prayer and answer it. Bless my sweet boy with these things to be a man for You.

And I have faith that this young man will be a wonderful example to his cousin, Colt. The LORD has blessed my sister with a most wonderful son.