Those poppies gave me hope

Pretty much the first song a Mormon kid learns is "I am a Child of God". It eloquently teaches our beliefs--that we are all children of our Heavenly Father, that He loves us and that there is purpose to this life. We've been singing this song to Talmage since the day he was born, and it was the first song that he completely memorized (albeit with a few minor changes). There is one part of the song that talks about Heavenly Father "giving me an earthly home, with parents kind and dear." I especially love that part of the song, since I'm now the kind and dear parent and everything.

But that T-Man, he taught me a lesson the other day with his "I am a Child of God" remix. Instead of singing "parents kind and dear," Talmage sang, "He has given me an earthly home, with parents kind OF dear." Kind OF dear? Really T? I know for him it was just a slip of the tongue (you should hear the words he puts into some of his other favorite songs :) but it definitely got me thinking. Am I a parent that is kind and dear, or am I a parent that's just kind of dear. Am I loving, kind, nurturing, strong and faithful? Am I being a good role model for the boys? Do I love them the way their Heavenly Father does? Do I seek for His help in knowing their unique and amazing characteristics?

After way too much thought on this subject, I've realized that I have a long way to go before I'm the Mom that I really want to be...and that He knows that I can become.

But I do have hope.

Just yesterday we took a walk (and T took a scooter) to see Daddy at school and we passed by hundreds of beautiful wildflowers growing along the road. As we would pass each little patch of bright orange flowers, Talmage would stop his scooter and say, "Wow Mommy! Look at the beautiful poppies. Heavenly Father made them for us." He did it over and over again. He was so excited and enriched by the beauty of creation.

And in that moment, I felt like I must be doing something right. I might have even felt a little kind and dear.