Brotherly Love, Phonetic Style

This afternoon when I got home from work, Liam was not feeling well.  He was cranky and clammy, and fell asleep before 5:00 because he just felt awful.  While I was holding him on the couch, Micah decided to draw pictures and write notes.

In Micah's school, they teach the kids to write phonetically, or that they should learn to spell based on how things sound.  It seems good, but when you really get into it, you realize how screwed up the English language is when it comes to words being spelled how they sound - most just aren't.

So in his own words, written by his own accord, here is what our beautiful-hearted five-year-old wrote to his sick little brother, all by himself:

Translation: "Liam, I'm sorry that you are sick. I hope you feel better soon. I love you very much. I will get the mine set for your birthday.  I will give a hug and a kiss."

(The mine set he's referring to is a Lego set that the boys have been plotting to get for one another for their birthdays for weeks now.)

And if the front of the letter wasn't precious enough, the back looked like this:

Micah drew Liam a train to help him feel better.

Our boys have their moments.  They fight, they've thrown things, they get upset when the other is too bossy while they're playing, and they both have very stubborn streaks. And there's a reason for the saying that being a parent is the hardest job there is.  Because it is really challenging to shape little souls and hearts into kind-hearted, compassionate, conscientious people who love Jesus and treat others with respect.

But every once in a while, most often when we least expect it, we are blessed to get a glimpse of a genuine relationship building between our boys.  We know that our hard work in trying to teach them that family is forever is paying off, and they are learning to love one another.

Thank God for the glimpses.