Branching Out

I remember when Anthony was about three years old, he began to add more and more people (and animals!) to his list of prayers at night. If we had seen an aunt, uncle, or cousin that day, they were added to our list, and usually were left on there for quite some time. We offer a standard prayer for "all of our family and friends" at the end of our usual litany, so I guess he never felt bad when he would eventually drop off a particular person. He knew they were covered! Now we're back to our standard list that we started with years ago.

Benjamin and I pray the same prayers at night as I do with Anthony. But what I've noticed about Benjamin is that he hasn't been willing to branch out from the standard list. Even if I add someone, or (God forbid) forget someone, he lets me know that it's not OK and we have to start over. Prayers can sometimes last a long time in Benjamin's world.

Tonight he totally surprised me. Mark's cousin, his cousins wife, and their two (grown-up) daughters are visiting and Benjamin has fallen in love with Allison ("Aslison") and Simone ("Mone"). Tonight they were added to his list...but not only were they added to his list, they rated the top spot (usually save for Mama and Daddy!). I think he's going to go into shock when they leave on Sunday. Thankfully, we'll be seeing a lot more of them because "Aslison" will be teaching locally through Teach for America.

I'm OK with giving up top spot in the prayer list for these two - they have played with both boys and totally worn them out! :o)