Bedtime Buddies

One of my favorite things to do is tuck the kids in at night. Now I'm not completely crazy. Getting them READY for bed is not one of my favorite things. But the actual tucking in, with it's rituals passed on from my parents ("Are you my little Sunshine? I love you. Good night." repeated back by each child and with each child having a special title) is one of my very favorite things. Tonight I had sweet experiences with Jesi and Xander. Jesi (my little Princess) loves me to sing to her. Her song request virtually every night is a song my Brother Matt and I wrote together entitled "Let Your Angel Fly." It's about a father who watches his little girl grow up and has to let her go. We wrote it when Jesi was about 3 months old, so obviously, for me, she was who I was writing about. It kind of fascinates her that I wrote a song about and for her. So she loves me to sing it to her. The bridge starts out, "She's standing in white. How can I give her away?" When I sang that part tonight, Jesi got a concerned look in her eyes and said, "You could never give me away! I would be so sad!" I explained to her what that meant, using Christi as an example. "Mommy used to live with her daddy, but now she lives with me. When mommy and daddy got married, her daddy had to give her away." She seemed to understand that, and added, "But I will always come and visit. And when I go on dates or something, I will teach them a little about you, so they will know!" I love that little angel SOOOOO much!

As I tucked Xander (my little Dang Xu Chu, his chinese name) in, we talked a little about the importance of missionary work. I asked him if he was going to be a missionary some day. "Yep!" he said. I asked him where he would like to go on a mission. He contemplated for a few moments and said, with one of his trademark, character-filled faces, "South America?" "That would be a great place to serve a mission, Xander. Do you know where I served a mission?" "No." "I served in Thailand. That's very close to China." I don't know if I've ever seen Xander more interested or captivated by a concept before. He eyes were piercingly intent as he asked me several questions. "It's, it's, it's really close to China? Like on the other side of the mountains? (Not sure where he got the mountain concept:) And there were families there? And you had friends there?..." He went on an on interrogating me about Thailand being close to China. It was very cute. Although there are no Mormon missionaries in China right now, who knows whether there will be 15 years from now when Xander can go. I asked him if he would like to be a missionary in China, and he thought that would be great. How wonderful it would be if sometime between now and then China opened it's doors to Christianity and allowed it's people to openly and easily worship God.

Jer