The heart of a child

For about 6 years now I've been caring for 2 little boys who I absolutely adore! S is 6 and O is 4; and I've been taking care of them since S was about 8 months old. Their parents call me apart of their parenting team...and I think of them as my second family.

Each summer S and O go to Michigan for about a month to see family and go on vacation. This summer has been a bit crazy so we haven't seen each other that much. I went over there the other day to hang out before we all went our separate ways.

I was talking to the boys and their mom about my upcoming trip. I asked the boys if there were any questions they have about Cameroon that they would want me to ask the Cameroonian children. O wants to know if they play lacrosse, and S wants to know if they play baseball.

I also asked them what they wanted me to bring back from Africa for them. S wants a hyena tooth necklace, and O a cheetah...a real live cheetah. When I told him I wouldn't be able to get the cheetah on the plane he said "Miss Erin, you can figure out a way to sneak it on the plane!"
I told him I would try to get him a little cheetah statue or something.

While I was talking to their mom about life, the boys decided they wanted to each give a book to the Cameroonian kids on my trip. They scurried upstairs, and each found a book. O brought down his Preschool Bible, and S 'Oh Holy Night'. This is the conversation that happened:

S & O's mom - "S that is a great book, but its one of Daddy's favorites. Do you think you can find another one?"
S - runs upstairs to find another book
S - "How about this one?!" (holds up book)
M - "Sweetie, thats another great book, but it was a special gift given to our family. How about you choose another book. It doesn't have to be a book about God."
S- "But Mommy I want the kids in Cameroon to learn about God, so I want to give them a God book."
M - "How about you look in O's room on his shelf for a God book"
S (in tears) - "But I want the book to be from me, and if its off O's shelf it will be from him"
M - "let's go look together"

They went upstairs for a little bit, and decided that the Bible would be from both S and O.

To have a heart like that...wanting kids halfway around the world from where you are to learn about God and to want to give up one (or more) of your favorite books for them to learn.

I hope whenever I have kids they are like that.