His Future Wife Will Thank Us

You know we're growing a man over here, right?

At 13 years old,
our Joseph stands at 5'9" tall,
wears a man's size 13 shoe,
30-32" mens jeans...
and he eats, shovels in his food like a lumberjack.

Being the Quartermaster of his Scout Troop--
it's his job to take care of the troop's camping gear and equipment,
as well as make sure each scout is properly outfitted 
for the camping trips they take.
He is often paired with a less-experienced scout,
because he can keep an eye out for them.

Why, just yesterday he was begging us to let him sleep outside overnight,
in the midst of a blizzard.
We told him if he could actually set up a tent in the blowing snow
in the backyard,
he could do it.
I want him to be able to try his wild ideas out
in the safety of our shadows
before he attempts it alone.
He spent sometime outside
in the howling wind and snow
and came in awhile later,
declaring it was "too lonely".

We painted the family room and kitchen over the weekend--
guess who led the way for us?

He was all over it.
Seriously, he taped and painted a good deal of it
with zero complaints.

And this morning before school started,
he and Kent got out the old snowblower
that the two of them repaired last summer--
the snowblower used to belong to Kent's dad
and hadn't worked in many years,
but the two of them printed out a manual for it
and fixed it!
So Kent taught Joseph how to start it up
and use it...
he not only did our driveway and sidewalks,
but did the neighbors too!

This past year,
his dad has taught him how to:
*Replace brakes on the Suburban and the Accent
*Replace a dishwasher
*Hang a new light fixture
*Hang Christmas lights without falling off the roof
* Replace a sink faucet
*Change tires, batteries, and windshield wipers
* Replace furnace filters
*Replace a new thermostat for the heating/cooling system


I figure his future wife might appreciate this stuff...yeah? I sure do.  I'm thinkin' the next thing should be cooking and laundry.