Camden and Rory

One current thing about each child.

Camden and Rory were diligently having school time yesterday morning (yes, I totally make them do something halfway constructive each day for 30-60 minutes), and he muttered to me, "We're horrible people." My first reaction was to jump all over him because it sounded as if he were getting ready to complain or some other 9-year old boy nonsense. But as I walked over and looked at him, his eyes were filling with tears, and he said, "we've been having all this fun and I haven't given a single thought to Miccahel for weeks. And he is probably sitting alone in Indonesia thinking that no one loves him and that we've forgotten all about him. I haven't even prayed for him for at least a month!" And then he completely burst into tears.

Now Miccahel is the little boy we sponsor via Compassion International, and while it's true that as we've had company for a week and then half our family spent a week at camp, we have slacked off a bit in remembering him daily, it's not true that we've forgotten him. But for whatever reason, it really hit Camden hard that he hadn't been praying for Miccahel daily. And as I held him while he cried and then subsequently prayed for Miccahel, I shed a few tears as I prayed that God would always keep his heart sensitive to others.

Rory's story is less moving. ;)

We all know she is in constant competition with her brother. Anything he can do, she thinks she can do better. And if she can't do it better, then she'll copy it exactly. It's gotten to the point that if we're giving them a choice about something, Camden will make her choose first so that she won't just copy him. I don't know why it bothers him so much, but it does.

Anyway, now that summer is here, Camden takes great pride in sleeping in. Rory, of course, is up at the crack of dawn. During the summer, we don't let her get up until 7:30. She can read quietly or do something on her bed, but she can't come out until 7:30. Monday morning, I heard her stirring around upstairs several times, but she never came downstairs.

Fast forward to 9:36 and Camden comes stumbling downstairs, followed about 60 seconds later by Rory. She was wrapped in her blanket, holding her pillow, hair pulled over her head (Camden does all these things, btw, when he gets up), wide awake but doing her best to pretend that she had just woke up. She not-so-innocently said in her sleepiest voice possible, "I guess I slept in later than Camden this morning."

That girl seriously laid in her bed for 2.5 hours just to say she slept in later than Camden.

Life is never boring with these two.