from the mouth of babes

sorry the posts have been few and far between lately. i started studying for the bar about a week and a half ago and life as i knew it ended abruptly. i had a few minutes to post tonight though, so i wanted to share a little bit about caleb so you all can understand why we have a video of him speaking in some unrecognizable language. the language is actually english and he is reciting a scripture he memorized and shared at church during primary open exercises.

for those of you who don't speak 'mormon', all the kids at church go to kid-oriented classes called primary. before they separate into classes based on their ages, all of the kids under age 7 or 8 meet together and have some group teaching take place. as part of the group teaching, kids are assigned different things to do to take part in the teachings. for example, caleb was assigned the week before to share a scripture of his choice with everyone.

caleb decided to share moses 1:39 because jameson had also memorized this scripture when he was younger and shared it during primary. so, with the scripture picked out, he, jameson, and mom started working on memorizing it. at times he would try and recite it to me during the week, but usually would not do so without aim's help and prompts. sunday finally rolled around and he was excited to share his scripture but i hadn't heard him recite once all by himself. i figured he could do it, but caleb can be shy and stubborn. these attributes do not make for a good combination when it comes to a child required to speak in public.

at any rate, caleb and i went into the primary room a little before primary started to practice with the microphone (he insisted that i call it a microphone and not a mic). true to form, caleb balked on the stand and would not recite the scripture as i coaxed him to practice. so, even though things weren't going quite as planned, i just figured when the time came, we'd have to prompt him along from the crowd as he shared his scripture.

with that primary started and we all sat down. caleb felt extra important that day as he got to sit in the scripture chair at the front of the room while he waited for his turn. finally it came and he walked up to the pulpit, stood on the step, and looked out at the group of kids and parents who sat anxiously awaiting his scripture. caleb paused for a minute, as though he were not entirely sure what to do without aim or i there to coax him along. we waited, and i thought after a second or two aim or i would have to start him off by saying the first couple of words out loud. but to our pleasant surprise, caleb rattled off moses 1:39 as clear and as accurate as could be:

for behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. moses chapter one verse thirty-nine.

aim and i both got goose-bumps and our eyes teared up. it was a really neat moment for us as parents to see our little boy share the scripture so well. he exceeded our expectations. all you have to do is watch the video to see how good of a job he did. as you can tell from the video, he is very difficult to understand and that's take number 15 or so. that was as clear as we could get him to speak after constant cajoling and myriad bribes. so, you can imagine our surprise when on sunday, he actually spit it all out as eloquently and articulately as a stubborn, little three-year old boy can.

we are so proud of him, we just wanted everyone else to see why. hope it all makes sense now.

j