Another Odd Gift

MJ's family baptism picture

    I know.  I am supposed to keep this blog updated.  But it is the summer time, and I also babysit (one time with 14 kids at a time - if you include my own).  Need I say more.  Finding time is a hard thing to do.  There are not enough hours in a day, and if there were, I still would not have the energy to do all that needs to be done.
    Whenever my son MJ asks for something for a birthday, Christmas, or something else, it is always something odd; not a typical present that a child his age would ask for.  One year, it was an extension cord.  We had to take it away after he blew out my electric piano though.  Another year he wanted sprinkler pipes.  They have come in handy several times.  One year it was tools; REAL tools, specifically a pipe wrench.  He had seen his dad get two of his stuck pipes apart with one and he wanted it BAD.  This year for his birthday, he told me, (a few days before), that he wanted a pine tree.  I thought that one fit the odd things list.  I had already gotten him a few gifts (sometimes it’s not so great to be prepared) and when I went to the store, they were quite a bit more than I wanted to spend, so I told him he would have to start saving for one.  He was not a happy camper.  Then a few days later, I was going through his school papers and I came across one he had written about a pine tree.  I realized this was not just a one time wish.

 

(It reads . . . " If I found a magic wand, I would make one pine tree appear in my back yard.  First I would climb the pine tree.  Next I would make a tree house.  Finally I would have a giant pine tree in my back yard.  That is what I would do if I found a magic wand.")

    Thankfully my amazing parents helped make the beginning part of his dream real. They were coming up for his baptism (which turned out so amazing, but that’s another story) and stopped by the same nursery we had gone to.  They even picked out the same tree he had wanted when we went.  Wow!  When they brought it in, MJ was sooooo excited.  The next day he woke up and said, “Mom, I have dreamed about having a pine tree before, but then when I wake up, I don’t have one.  This time I DO!” 
    Before Grandpa could leave to go home, MJ talked him into helping him plant it in the back yard.  They found a good spot, and with the help of his cousins, who also came for his baptism, they planted the pine tree. 

It's in!!!

The finished product!

It has been over a month since we planted it and he sits and measures it to see how fast it is growing.  He loves it and I hope it continues to grow just like his amazing testimony.