My kids often get lumped all together in these blog posts.  We are together almost all of the time so I guess it’s natural.  The truth is, each of my children are so different and so full of life, experiences, humor, sadness, learning, suffering each and every day that there would be no way I could record it all.  Yesterday was an important day for Theodore though so I wanted to be sure to get it down.

You know those games people play when they ask you to describe yourself or a loved one in one word? I could do that fairly easily with everyone in my family.  For example, Chris is…strong, Foster is…a thinker, Katie is…a dreamer, Parker is…indecisive, Jonah is…easy-going.  I would be stuck when it came to Theodore.  Theodore is FULL.  He’s full of energy, passion, determination, strong-will, humor, excitement, stubbornness, anger, compassion, kindness and on and on.  He’s a small boy for his age, a little shorter and a lot skinnier than his peers but he is HUGE inside.

Yesterday was a hard day and a great day with Theodore.  Chris had to work overtime so I was getting everyone ready for church and Theodore gave me a terrible time.  He was arguing with me and everyone else about little things, but he’s tenacious, he gets something in his head (those are HIS sunglasses, that’s NOT FAIR) and he will not let it go. He made me so angry before we left that I refused to help him tie his shoes (yes, he’s 7 and doesn’t know how to tie his own shoes, nobody teaches that past the first kid).  He worked it out, Foster helped him.  But the rest of the day continued down a path of one that led to me offering to leave him in a parking lot on the way home so he could find a new family to abuse (disclaimer: you may not want to follow my parenting advice).  When we made it home, he came to my room crying and said ” I don’t deserve anything.”

My response shocked him and may shock you but I agreed with him.  Then we sat down and I read to him from Romans 3:23 “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.  I explained to Theodore that I don’t deserve anything either. That he and I are the same. Sinners.  I told him that is why we need Jesus. Why we need the free gift of forgiveness.

Theodore said his prayer last night, he wanted to be sure and he wants to be baptized next Sunday.  He knows that he will still get angry and still be disrespectful but now he has help (the Holy Spirit) and now he has hope and a secure future.

Theodore is…redeemed.