Sweet Grady

I must have the sweetest little boy ever. I'm totally serious.

Last night we were on our way to church. I was the last one out of the house and I got into the van. Grady said with his big blue eyes sparkling and beaming and his dimples engaged full throttle, "You look pretty, Mama." He's said this to me before, but usually after he heard Joel say it or Joel has told them to say it. Of course I said "thank you, baby" and then promptly asked Joel if he had told him to say it. He said he hadn't...there had been no prior talk of such things. I was impressed with our sweet little boy and of course melted.

All of his teachers at church just go on and on about how he is such a joy. They just love him. It's really cool too because I've prayed this with each of my pregnancies/children...that they would just be a joy to everyone they come into contact with. I esp. consistently prayed it with Grady though (since I didn't have any other children at the time...had more time on my hands). Anyhow, last night, one of our friends, O.L., went to get the kids out of their classes for us. Grady is always super excited to show us what he's made in class and he also tells us the Bible verse they learned, but usually that part is only done after the prompting of the teacher as we pick him up. Last night after that part was done with O.L., Grady came into the sanctuary where we were and showed us all of his papers. O.L. was busy doing something else and after Grady showed us his papers he quickly said, "God keeps promises" with a huge smile on his face. I knew what he was doing of course. I was so proud. O.L. then turned to us and asked Grady if he wanted to tell us his Bible verse. It was so great that he had already done it on his own. So cute. The whole thing was actually "God always keeps His promises" but I was so glad and impressed that he had remembered it..."God keeps promises" is really all you need...that's the jist of it. So cute.

After that, Grady wanted some gum. Usually after church he gets some gum. That can also be attributed to O.L. He started that tradition at church. :) So, Joel gave Grady some and Grady kept saying something over and over. Both Joel and I were talking to different people and finally I listened really good to what Grady was saying and realized that he was saying, "Hadley wants some gum." He always looks out for his little sister like no other. It's really sweet. He's never shown any signs of jealousy or competition...he just always takes care of her. Not that they are perfect and never get into tiffs over toys and sharing and stuff. But, he really does look out for her.

Then this morning we were just hanging out here at the house and without any prompting at all he said, "I love you, Mama."

We sure do love our sweet Grady.