No parent can say how dear are their children. But we can try. Randall Lawrence is our first born. Yes his first name is mine as well and I couldn’t be more happy and proud. We call him Lawrence, and that name is for his Grandfather whom he never knew.
Lawrence is our 6,7,8,9,10, 11 year-old and I want to say a few bragging-dad words about him.
Lawrence has always loved drawing and this year he once again won local and state in the WCTU poster contest. (To his delight, the prizes were cash, which he saved.) When he was younger he drew more pictures than one could count: various battles, thousands of little soldier men, even a panorama of the living room. But our favorite was the subject that captivated his mind as early as 3 years old. That was the cross. For some reason he drew crosses — and often he would put Jesus on the cross. Who can know why this captured his imagination, but we wonder if it shouldn’t capture ours as well.
Lawrence loves to play basketball and we’ve played alot of round-the-world, 3-point shoot out and pick up ball with his friends. The other day he got some new ball shoes, so look out! One of our co-workers here calls him "Mr. Basketball". As you might guess, he enjoys the name. 
This last year he had the itch to do outdoor work and a neighbor asked him to mow his lawn. He was 10 but we loved his initiative so we said, "OK". I helped him some the first time or two but then it was, "I can do it OK, Dad."
Then we learned we could not use the school lawnmowers. Understandable.
"What if I took some of my savings and bought my own lawnmower, Dad?" What if, indeed. I got out my "father’s easy answer book" and looked for the section on ‘budding tycoons.' We decided to let him buy the lawnmower. This year he added a weed-eater to his arsenal.
We don’t exactly live in the suburbs, so finding lawns is a bit of a trick, but he has two and will get others — there are probably 20-30 houses within a mile or so and he has done some door knockin’. And he does other odd jobs to add to his savings. Best of all, as he earns he is learning the tithe, which is, as we try to teach him, God’s gift to help us remember from whence all gifts come.
Lawrence’s best qualities are his eagerness to work and save, desire to help his Mom (just yesterday: "You work too hard, Mom. I’m going to clean the house this afternoon."), and his gentle, quiet spirit. He has a spiritual openness that we covet and want to cultivate.
Raising kids is a high calling. I’m glad God trusted us with a son like Lawrence and we pray we will make good on that trust.
Wow! It makes me really excited to watch our kids grow as I read your blog. The preschool years seem so sweet and fleeting–but what joy to think how fun the “tween” years and teenage years beyond will be, as well. The picture of you and Lawrence building the treehouse is priceless. God’s richest blessings on your wonderful family!
I loved it. Lawrence is off to a good start. Remember your first summer mowing lawns, Randy? I think you were a little older. It was really a nice piece that you wrote about Lawrence. May God bless you as you continue on. You are doing well.
You have been blessed. Very touching.
He is one great kid, and so is that other one of you with the really cool name!
Can’t wait to see all four of you in just a week - our kids are counting the days…literally.
Wow - that picture brings back happy memories! I just found your blog on the hobe sound blog log. I’ll look forward to looking in on your busy lives!
We’re doing great - we just moved to Indiana so that David can continue studying in Chicago. We miss the south - it was a wonderful 4 years. During packing, I found the wonderful information you had put together for us about the house and the area when we moved to Mississippi. It was such a blessing.
Trust all is well with you all. I’m anxious to read up and see what’s going on in your world.
Blessings! Sarah Fry
Thanks everyone for coming by — you can see I’m really burning up the blog world these days! Good to hear from you, Sarah. Glad you all made the move and are doing fine. We loved our years in the south, too, and we loved that Alta Woods neighborhood and that tree house! Hello to David — happy he can continue work up at TEDS. BTW, my sister and her family pastor in Kokomo at the PHC — you probably know them.