Sweet Moment

After school we went on a bike ride with the kids. We have a bike trailer for the girls to ride in and the rest of us have bikes. We rode around our subdivision and then to the park that is in the next subdivision. The park there is nicer than our park. It has wood chips instead of sand under the play equipment and there is a nice large grassy area for running and playing soccer. The kids were having a fun time on the playground and kicking the ball with Jeremy, so I took a walk around, trying to shake off the afternoon blahs (of feeling so tired, all I really wanted to do was take a nap). Charlie came over by me and started walking with me. I asked him how life was going and he said "not very well". I asked him what was going on and he said that some of the kids at school are calling him "puffy pants". That some girl had started calling him that and some of the other kids have caught on and do it too.  I asked him if had told those kids that that hurt his feelings and is not nice to say unkind things. He hadn't. I hope he has courage to stand up to those kids, and that those kids are sensitive enough to stop teasing. We never want it to be our kid that is being teased, but I think better to be teased than to be the agressor.
So, the sweet moment came a few minutes after that conversation. On our little walk we came to a bench and sat down. I was asking him about his turning 8 next year and what he thought he needed to do to be ready to be baptized. "I need to read the scriptures". I asked him if he would like to read the whole Book of Mormon, or have me mark verses for him, and read parts of it. He was certain that he wanted to read all of it.  Then we were talking about his feelings about the gospel and he said he loves Heavenly Father and loves church and wants to be an eternal family. As I was listening to him I recognized this was not just a little boy repeating what he has learned at church, he really feels this and knows this. It was a heart warming moment. Charlie really is such a sweet little boy, although I'm excited for him to be growing up and be his own person, I am already starting to miss the little boy, so sweet and innoscent, I hope he never really grows out of that.