On Raising Boys...

"I'm all new at this business... I'm not so sure how to do it right, see?


(But) Ain't so hard as all that. Mostly it just takes lookin' at a kid right in the eyes when he tells you somethin' he thinks is wonderful but maybe to you it don't amount to a hill of beans. You gotta remember that everything is new to a kid...


I'm gonna put hammers in the hands of my boys. I'm gonna let them help me build up this place again, and they'll feel good about what they done, too.



I think a kid... any kid at all... mostly just wants to do good. Sure, they ain't gonna do everything just right the first time, but that ain't a sin. That's just what learnin' is all about. Make a mistake. Try again. Do it a little better next time- and better yet, the next time.


Everything's new and wonderful to a kid... They think they can sprout wings and fly. They believe everything they imagine is possible... I reckon that's what the Lord meant when He said we ought to be like little children. They have faith still. They still believe they can move mountains.


Maybe their souls remember what it was like to be in heaven where maybe they really could fly. Then we grow up and learn about gravity, and we become grave in our hearts. And then we stop believing.


Well, life will turn out hard for them soon enough. It has a way of doin' that, I reckon. But I do not want to be the one to tell my boys they can't move mountains. No, sir. I look at my sons, and I think... yes, sir, Lord, maybe all things really are possible.

Maybe man was meant to fly. Meant to build great cities. Meant to say to this mountain be moved into the sea... and then find a way to make it happen.


That's what I want to give my boys. If I can do that...

(And) Where do (we) begin?


Right here (with our hearts). Listen to him. Look at him. Teach him what's right, but give him room to make mistakes, just like (we) have made mistakes. Someday he may hurt you. Kids do sometimes. It's part of it, I expect. There will be times when you gotta forgive him, like maybe he has to forgive you.

It ain't easy... but it's worth it.

Live every day like that, and love will just happen."

~Bodie Thoene

(excerpt from "Say to this Mountain", 3rd book in "The Shiloh Legacy" taken from pages 153-155)

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I realize that this conversation is between two fathers speaking about their sons... but it rang so true for me as well that I wanted to record it here to help me remember.

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Photos of my boys... just being boys between 2004 and 2009