A little about Nate

One of my favorite character qualities of Nate is his compassion.

When he plays with his toys, someone is always the mommy and someone is the baby. The baby gets hurt and the mommy gives it kisses and helps it feel better.

If Bethany falls down, he is the first to give her a kiss and ask her if she is ok. (Unless he was the one who pushed her over. Then he ignores her and acts like nothing happened!!)

When we went to an Oso fundraiser a couple weeks ago, I explained that the mud covered the people's houses so they didn't have anything left. I told him that a fundraiser is something that we can do to help people and give them money. He immediately got a bright look on his face and said, "Mom! I have money in my jar I can give to the people in the mudslide!"

Aunt Kim, James, Nate, and their buddy Luke at the Oso fundraiser. James and Nate put all the money from their jar into the donations box at the event, but were very confused about not being able to "go to the mudslide and rescue people". They both want to be rescuers with rescue dogs when they get older..... when Nate isn't being lazy.  ;-)

There is a man who stands on the corner next to our Fred Meyer holding a sign. We pass him 3-4 times a week and the boys always ask questions about him. I don't really know how to explain "homelessness" to the kids so I just say that he doesn't have a home, he is asking for money, and I wonder what his story is and why he doesn't have a home.

Nate and James are always very concerned and tell me that they have money in their jar they can give him so he can buy a new house. 

I walked into the boy's room to tuck them in last night and Nate showed me Rocky and Kevin (his trains with cranes).

"Mom, Rocky is holding a sign that says that he is homeless and he needs money to buy a new house for his family. And Kevin wants to know if you can give him money to buy a house that is on sale."

Well, here's some money, but Rocky and Kevin look like they could be good workers. What if we help them find a job so they can work hard to earn money for their family?

"But, this IS their job. They work hard holding up this sign so they can get money. See how heavy the sign is?"