"Imitation is a form of flattery.."

"One night a father overheard his son pray..Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is.
Later that night, the Father prayed...Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.."

If you will follow along with me..there is a point at the end of this story..I promise... :)

As Travis and I arrived at church on Sunday morning and Khristian (who stayed with Travis parents on Saturday night ) ran outside to meet us...I noticed he was running a little slow and wobbly...As I looked down to his feet I saw that he was wearing a pair of old cowboy boots..For anyone that knows my son you know he isnt really the cowboy boot and jeans type...he is more of the Sperry (with no socks) and Guy Harvey type...now, these boots I'm guessing that these cowboy boots were 3 sizes to big for him but he didnt seem to care...he was wearing them and he was proud as we could tell from the big grin on his face...he said "Mom..look at what I'm wearing!" as he picked up the oversized boot and held it up for me to see...I shook my head..laughing a bit figureing he was being silly..and asked "Khristian..why in the world do you have those on?"...he replied.."Cause I want to..."...which seemed like a good enough answer to me so we continued on into church as a family...found "our" regular pew and sat down not giving the boots a second thought...

As the music played, we sang those old southern gospel hyms that I love so much....Khristian was not sitting beside me...he was up in front of the church with his "Tadpaw" (Travis dad) helping direct the choir and give the morning announcements...he does this every Sunday and Tadpaw puts his arm around him and ruffles his hair...he doesnt really "do" anything while he is up there..he doesnt even really sing unless he knows the song by heart...he just wants to be up there standing beside his grandfather...Who by the way...was also in cowboy boots and jeans...

After the music faded...the offering was took...Khristian came to finally sit down...he couldnt seem to get situated and it took me a second to realize what he was doing..Finally, he looked up at me..with his leg resting on his knee (the way most guys sit)...and smiled and said "Daddy..look...I'm starting to sit just like you now!"...He was imitating Travis..and what he was doing..right down to the way he had his arms crossed...It was funny but heartwarming all at the same time...I turned to look at Travis...who had the slightest little smile on his face...He has been doing this more and more here lately...imitating the things that Travis is doing...things that he say's...and I overhear him telling people "Well..my daddy does it this way!"

Church let out and we preceeded to get our bellys full of my Mother in Laws fantastic food (Chocolate chip cookies..YUM)...it was decieded that Khristian was going to stay another night with them so that he could ride horses (which would have made me a little nervous except it was a little pony) with some close family friends that lived right next door....Khristian all the sudden got a little worried and told me to make sure to call his PawPaw (my daddy) and tell him that he would not be coming to his house on Monday to go running/walking with him...This was extremly important to him...He said "Mom...You HAVE to call PawPaw and tell him I won't be there..cause he said that if your not going to do something your supposed to..then you need to tell someone so they will know and they won't be waiting on you!" You see, PawPaw has been working on making Khristian follow the guidelines of "Respect"..and it seems to be working..

In one day I got to see how the three most important men in my son's life are influencing him...He is striving to be like each one of them...and it makes me smile..In this day and age there are so many things and people that can influence our children..that is almost scary to send them out into the world..because we don't know what they will come back home with embedded in their mind..but I am at happy knowing that my son is looking up to these wonderful men..They may not realize it but they are shaping the kind of man that he is going to be one day..

I know that ultimatly Khristian will be his own person..with his own personality..and his traits that make him unique...but I hope and pray that as time goes on..that he will always carry a part of each man along with him and each one shines through... =)