I was helping to feed the fish and settle the kids to bed tonight. I heard Thomas say "That's what I use to pray at night, when I'm scared." He was showing the kids how he uses his little art "desk" as an "altar", in front of these old pictures that I found in the attic at the old farmhouse, and had set in this out-of-the-way corner of the boys' bedroom, while I painted the entryway (still haven't finished) months ago.
Since I don't homeschool the boys anymore (they go to a local charter school), his religious education is mostly that I pray with Tommy on the way to school every morning and he makes me read Bible stories to him almost every night. He and the other kids have watched The Bible series over and over on Netflix. Despite all of this, I thought that he wasn't quite ready for his FHC. He had started to resist going to church and had a bad attitude about morning and prayers. He waffled about attending First Communion classes last Fall and had been having a really sour attitude lately about prayer, church, and pretty much everything else! All of this confirmed to me that he just wasn't ready. Now? I'm not so sure! He explained to the kids, "Don't move it! I go like this (kneels down and folds his hands) then I close my eyes and I pray and I don't feel so scared." I was shocked. I showed him that there was a Jesus picture behind the Mary one and he was so pleasantly surprised, it was as if I had given him an extra scoop of ice cream!
