My Heart Took A Picture

Last night Tanner turned to me during our 20 minutes of reading and said, "Mom, I LOVE to read!"

Right then my heart took a picture. Not only because of the sweet moment but because of the milestone it represents. Last night I really ENJOYED listening to Tanner read.

(I don't know if you've seen the movie Go Towards the Light (a real tear jerker but a favorite of mine). The mother in the movie speaks of how during precious moments in her child's life her heart takes a picture.)

For those of you who don't know reading (child out loud to parent) at our house can be Painful! Torturous! Brutal! And can call upon all the powers of Patience and Long Suffering that exist in the natural world and beyond. You want to know what I asked Eric for my birthday? A night off of reading. Seriously. Don't get me wrong, Christian and Tanner are amazing. They can ride their bikes without hands, do back flips on the trampoline, play soccer like no other little boys I've seen. They are kind, loving, thoughtful, and silly. They love to snuggle and to be read to. They love to look at Zoobooks, to sing songs, to pretend, and to play games. They are smart little boys whose abilities to read thus far unfortunately wouldn't rate them on the national top ten list. But we realize in full honesty, that these two have always tackled life on their own timetable. . . and I have been fervently praying that someday, prefereably before they entered middle school, that I could snuggle up with one of them in their bed and listen to them read without cringing as they sloppily slaughter or struggle through every other sentence.

Last night I not only saw but heard HOPE. Hope in his declaration, "I LOVE reading." Hope in his fluency and ability to read. Hope in that the pages of the book were turning faster than I had ever seen before. Hope in my personal enjoyment AND in his. Hope in the realization that I hadn't glanced at my watch at the usual rate of once a minute. Hope that reading with one of my little boys, at least occassionally, could become one of the best parts of my day!