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| A few of Kris's favorite things from his birthday last year - he seemed thrilled to receive scriptures engraved with his name |
At our Stake Conference in February we were challenged to read the entire Book of Mormon as a family before our next conference in June. We weren’t sure how Kris would respond to our invitation to join us for scripture reading because efforts when he first came to live with us were futile.
This time, as we explained that our Stake President wanted us to do this, he was willing enough. The first night we read together was so sweet, and there was no mistaking the presence of the Spirit as he read. I was amazed at how easily he read many of the unfamiliar words, and how eager he was for his turn to read. He always knew which scripture he should be on when it was his turn. He liked that he could mark the chart we are keeping as we read. All in all, we were pleasantly surprised and quite touched.
As we read about Lehi taking his family into the wilderness by the Red Sea he immediately said, “Oh, Charlton Heston was Moses. That was a good movie.”
There are a few words he consistently reads a certain way: Nephi is always pronounced ‘nephew’, and wherefore is always pronounced ‘whatever’ (as in ‘whatever’ with attitude).
Kris always starts us off, and he likes to read the chapter headings. As we began 2nd Nephi we clarified the pronunciation of Nephi’s name. He was quick to say, “Well, that’s a silly name!”, but he tried hard to pronounce it right every time he read it afterwards. One night while Ayrel was here she joined us as we read. Ever since then Kris skips ahead a verse, still factoring in an extra person.
The first few weeks of reading he came quite willingly, and then just a teeny bit of resistance crept in. Now as he comes into the room we hear him mumble things like, “This is ridiculous. Scriptures are ridiculous – a waste of time”, or “Wrestling is important. This is ridiculous”*. But he comes with his scriptures, and he handles them with gentleness and immediately gets into the reading, and he still likes to mark the chart. We’re hoping we can make it all the way through with his participation! I know that there is a special spirit in our home when we read the scriptures together, and that we are blessed for being obedient.
*We are good about making sure we don't conflict with his wrestling but it's pretty funny that sometimes after we finish our routine of reading, having prayers and giving hugs and kisses Kris immediately goes into his room, turns on a wrestling match and starts yelling insults at one of the wrestlers.
