He noticed...

 One thing Andy & I are committed to do for our children is to pray over them every night...not just the "God bless Caedmon and help him sleep well" kind of prayers. But really praying for his heart, who God is shaping him to be, and character qualities that we want him to develop. Some nights Caedmon patiently endures the prayer while other nights it's all we can do to get him to be quiet and not squirm out of our arms. I honestly never really thought he was listening.

But last night, he proved me wrong. After I finished praying for him last night, Caedmon said in a tearful voice, "But, Mom, you didn't pray that I'd become a warrior!"

The name, Caedmon, means 'a wise warrior'. We chose that name for him because we desire to see Caedmon grow up to be a warrior in the Kingdom of God, and this is a prayer that we pray over him often. I realize the 3-year-old-Caedmon likely has very little understanding of the symbolic nature of this prayer, but I also realize that he hears it, nonetheless. He hears all of the things we pray over him...that God would draw his heart to Him, that God would give him a heart to know Him and love Him, that Caedmon would be a man of prayer and integrity, that he would desire to honor God with his whole life.

Those prayers are shaping his thoughts and his life...even if he's standing on top of his head and talking to his stuffed animal while he "listens".