Yes Ma'am!

For years now, I've been trying to make Z understand that saying yes ma'am and yes sir is what we expect. That sometimes means repeating it to him A LOT!  Saturday morning we were tooling around Walmart trying to choose a suitable gift for a friend's birthday party. He was asking me if he could get this or that or whatever, for himself. I kept saying no, it's not your birthday; we are not buying you anything today. At some point I got a little frustrated with his pouting and whining about it and told him to straighten up...he said very whiney "Ohhhhhhhh Kayyyyyyyyy!"  I said NO, what would be a better thing to say when I tell you to do something.  He reluctantly, submissively said "yes ma'am."  I smiled at him and then all the sudden a lady near us, probably in her mid 80s said to me "Oh it's so good to hear a mother teaching her child respect; I thought it had passed this generation by." I told her we still had a long way to go, but getting him to respond to adults this way would hopefully be something he ONE DAY does without prompting.

She's right though. When I was a little girl, we were expected to say Yes ma'am and no sir, etc. It wasn't an option. Not sure  if it's more of a southern thing, but that's a moot point.

Embarassing

So yes, I'm embarrassed. That's the real reason for the long blog hiatus this time. Embarrassed that's it's been so long and I've skipped writing about so many great blog-worthy entries.  But today, I figured I'd just rip the embarrassment off like a band aid and dive back into the grind.  Looking back, I stopped writing in January and right after that, so many cool things happened. Not the least of which was Z deciding to follow Jesus.  I still remember that day. We were driving to church talking about one of his friends recent baptism. Z has always been very adamant that he believes in Jesus, that he loves God but that he will NEVER...well no, "at least till I'm 12" be baptized.

I can relate kiddo, I was scared of the water myself at your age, I told him.  I told him I waited until I was 7, even though I trusted Christ long before that, because I was deathly afraid of putting my face in the water. So I never have pushed Z to be baptized because well, that's not what saves us, right? I knew it would come in time and we'd wait until he wanted to do it.  But that Sunday was different and I should've sensed it right there in the car with all his questions.   He said he wanted to talk to our children's pastor, but when we got inside, the pastor was already talking to another child (one of Z's friends we later found out!). So he had to wait and I had to go to 3SS band practice. We were singing...wish I remember what song ha!  But the door flung open and Z ran onto the stage and grabbed my arm..."We can go talk to Brother Wayne MOMMY, now!"  Okay, Okay...let's go, I said.

Wayne was great; he listened to Z and talked with him and prayed with all of us. He asked Z if he wanted to say a prayer right there in the office; Z said he would rather wait and do that with mommy and daddy at home. So I thought that was that...another pause in the journey, but it wasn't going to be a long one.

Our church always has an invitational response at the end of each service. So I was singing during this time...the lights were dim and then out of the darkness, Z came running down the isle with the biggest smile on his face. He stood at the bottom of the steps right below where I was on stage.  Whispering loud and motioning with both hands. "Come on Mommy, we have to find Wayne!" So I immediately left the stage and followed him to Wayne. We all went into a quiet room and there Z was the stillest I've seen him in his life. He told Wayne he couldn't wait till he got home, that he wanted to pray right then. So we did.  When he opened his eyes, I could see it...he got it...he knew what he was doing. It was such a grown up moment.  Still, we were sure he hadn't changed his mind about baptism...even then he told Wayne he would have to wait 12 Sundays...he later changed that to five...and by Wednesday of that week, he wanted to move it all up to January 29. I was glad, but sad...I knew it would be too soon for any of our families to get here in time.  David's parents did actually make it...they just up and left and drove straight here to be with us. I think Z will be grateful for that forever.

We found out that Z's friend Boston would also be baptized that same Sunday. How exciting it would be to share that day with a friend.

I knew there was a chance he'd get cold feet and put it off; I was prepared for that.  But the day came and he was so excited. There was virtually no talk of fear; no worry about being up there in front of hundreds of people. It was supposed to be this way!

It was beautiful and I cried many happy tears. Watching those little legs and feet flutter around trying to find footing coming out of the water was surreal. We'll always be together. Nothing can separate us from Him or each other now. We'll always share a bond even deeper than mother/son. I can't wait to see what God will do with Z, with all of us.