Saint Blake

Although adorable little Blake is our kid who has by far thrown the wildest fits, granted us the most sleepless nights, and slugged more family members than Mike Tyson, one of his many endearing qualities is this: he's a Jesus lover.

The revival started last summer when I put him in a Vacation Bible School camp at a local church. It wasn't our church, but hey--it was $35 for 15 hours of crafts, snacks, and summer time praise, so I gladly took advantage of their hospitality.

I expected Blake to display his usual trepidation with new experiences upon initial drop-off, but I didn't expect the conniption fit he threw on the floor when I snuck out during singing time. He was truly speaking in tongues.

But when I picked him up, Blake had seen the light. The next week (and for three months afterwards until we "misplaced" the CD), he insisted on listening to his take-home souvenir of Christian kids' rock constantly at FULL volume. He would dance around the house singing to tunes that still course through my head: "I will nooooot be afraid..."

Since then, our very angelic little boy has been a medium for higher powers as he frequently begins sentences with the words "God gave me a thought..." That "thought" ranges anywhere from "I really should clean my own room" to "I really should have a few more pieces of candy." We're just glad he's our messenger from above.

Today Blake was playing downstairs with Gracie and her little friend when I heard these words angrily spew out of his mouth: "You guys are trying to be like you--BABIES--but I'm trying to be like Jesus!!!"

After I spoke to him about the tone of voice Jesus would most likely use to "motivate" baby girls into proper play date behavior, Blake considered this for a moment, then said, "Mommy, God gave me a thought...you know why I want to be like Jesus? Because when I grow up, I really want to be one of Santa's elves."

Love that boy!