(Yes, it is a tasteless post-surgery picture…too bad for him!  Read below and you will see why!!)  

Every night since late August, Amanda and I have renewed the vows of our marriage.  It is something we feel committed to and enjoy, and it has not been difficult to do or a problem at all….up until at least a few weeks ago.

You see a few weeks ago Ben was still up, and since we do them in bed (or on Skype when one of us is traveling) we invited Ben to take part.  He says his prayers every night anyhow, and he seemed interested in being involved……the problem is that now he is a little too involved.

A couple of nights ago he came into our room crying AFTER we had put him to bed.  When we asked him what was wrong, he tearfully said that he was upset that he didn’t get to help us “renew our vowels.”  Yes, it was cute, and yes of course we let him stay……but little did we know the monster that we were creating.

Now, just about every night, he wants to renew the vowels, and we are finding it less and less cute as he becomes more and more pushy.  Sure, perhaps we are setting a great precedent for he and his future wife, but HE IS FIVE and she is most likely at least more than 3 or 4 years away!!  And ALSO, now in his prayers, all he thanks God for is his SISTER.  How bizarre is that?  He is clearly potentially a candidate for a bribe, and we will head down that path tomorrow night for sure.

But for now he is in bed and I am happy to report that our vowels have been renewed yet one more time.  He is only in kindergarten, and with all that is going on right now, we expect him to have a solid marriage someday.  But he will probably be repeating a grade at some point.  Grammar is important, and renewing your vowels will not get anyone through the second grade.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+