We teach by example

We really can have an impact on the lives of other human beings by the choices we make. That is no more evident anywhere than in the choices children make. Our daughter-in-law, Susanne, has worked diligently at being fit for several years now. Recently she has become super-slim even! But we have admired her tenacity in the use of her treadmill as they have lived in various countries around the world and she often didn't have the choice of leaving home to exercise. Now that her kids are older, she usually runs outside every day. This is her 7-year old daughter, Louisa, using some of her free time during Christmas vacation. Nobody told her to do this. She went to the "tv room" and loaded Wii Fit and exercised. (A little later, she invited me in to "run" as a companion to her. It was fun and I enjoyed being included.) Louisa's oldest brother, Jarom, is an avid reader. He gave up his room for us to sleep in while we were there. This is a photo of some of his book collection. I don't know whether you can make out any of the titles but they aren't really what you might expect for a 13-year old boy. Granted, he is a little unusual. After all, he taught himself to read at the age of 4 or so, much to our family's amazement. His father (our son, James) has always enjoyed reading as does his mother (she was valedictorian for her graduating class at BYU). They have never forced their kids to read. They don't have to.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture that could do justice to Susanne. But this is a good shot of James in his office. Quite dashing, don't you think? (Shh- don't tell anybody about this picture. It's illegal. We weren't supposed to have our camera inside the embassy.)