The Kids: Paul

Paul  turned fourteen at the end of September.  He's been working with a local knife maker to make a knife, which he completed a little over a month ago.  This, too, was a story of God's provision.

I had been praying for a year that the Lord would find Paul a knife-making mentor.  We had taken Paul to visit a well-established knife maker this past summer.  While seeing this man's set-up for knife making was a dream come true for Paul, a mentoring opportunity didn't present itself.  So, I continued to pray.


Not long after that, an article ran in the local newspaper about a man who makes knives. He had competed on a television show on the History Channel called Forged in Fire.  I e-mailed him.  He was very excited to meet Paul.  Matt and Paul went to the man's house and saw his knife making set-up. Then he offered to help Paul make a knife.

All told, the man donated about 15 hours of his time to Paul in the making of his knife.  (He refused payment for his time).  He is a man who loves to teach, which is exactly what I was praying for.  This man has offered to continue to mentor Paul as he learns the knife making trade.  God is good. We are working on getting Paul the proper equipment so that he can begin making knives on his own. Finances have been the biggest hurdle to overcome, as it's not cheap to even get started with some basic tools.  However, the knife maker gave us some good tips to get the best deals possible.  We hope to get some forward movement on this venture by the first of the year.

Paul continues to be Joseph's favorite, favorite, favorite.  Paul spends a good part of every day tending to that rascally little two year old boy.  He even changes Joseph's poopy diapers with narry a complaint.  Paul also gets Joseph ready for bed and settles him to get him to sleep every night.  It's pretty cool to see that kind of selfless service in a kid Paul's age.

Paul has a great sense of humor and keeps me from taking life too seriously when his dad isn't around to do that job.  He serves as acolyte at the late service every Sunday at church, but he never complains. He also continues to make progress in his studies, reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet Spy by Eric Metaxas (Paul's choice) and a biography of Martin Luther.  He's still plugging along in math, overcoming a motivation issue that he has had the last few years.  Yay for progress!

Boy Scouts continues to be a of great interest to Paul.  He made First Class this past summer, was patrol leader for a session, is currently the chaplain's aid and continues to work on merit badges and pack meticulously for every possible contingency for all the camp outs.

Paul also has put his new hunting license to use.  He passed his hunter training course last spring.  A couple of weekends ago, he and Matt went pheasant hunting.  Just yesterday, Paul went on his first duck hunt as an actual participant. He, my dad and Matt shot 19 ducks.  My dad, who has hunted all his life, said that he'd never been on a better duck hunt.  There were scads of birds and the weather was cold but calm.  Paul was thrilled.  Unfortunately, all future hunts may pale in comparison.

Paul is a joy.  He's a hard worker and does all the jobs I ask him to do without complaint. He's got a soft heart.  God continues to amaze me with His plans for our kids, despite our feeble efforts as parents.  

Paul's First Hunt circa 2006