Passion

We all need a little passion in our life, right? Not that kind of passion! I mean the passion for things we feel strongly about, the things we love, and the things that inspire us.

Well, my boy Gavin is a passionate boy. When he loves something, he loves it deeply. His life is turned upside down by his loves. As a tiny thing of barely two, his first big love was dinosaurs. Have you ever heard a sweet little two year old say, "Parasauralophus?" Precious. Oh, I never knew SOOO much about dinosaurs as I do now. This love has definately lasted the longest. For a good 4 years, that was his true love. For discipline, I would take away dinosaurs. Sometimes ALL things dinosaur - no dino clothes, no dino books, no dino toys, it was a sad day.

As he grew, his passions for other things began. One year, he absolutely LOVED belts. He would take Daddy's and mine, his, and just play with them all day. I was really thinking about getting 10 belts from Goodwill for Christmas for him that year.

Then it was Star Wars. He LOVED Star Wars. He watched the movies all the time, drew pictures, and did pretend play. For Halloween, he was Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

For a while, he was loving Avatar, he watched the show, collected the guys, drew more pictures, and of course played Avatar at all times.

He got very interested in the solar system. His room was painted with space scenes by his aunt. Very awesome.

This past year, he was crazy for the Magic Tree House books. While they were under his reading level, he HAD to read them all. We quickly got them all from the library and within weeks, he had read all 38 books. He even had memorized which number was which title. It was amazing to ask him what #17 was, and him answer in a matter of seconds, "Tonight on the Titanic."

Gavin recently found a new passion. He is watching movies, drawing pictures, playing pretend with his "toys", and, of course, reading the books. Here is a display of some of his passion for the subject:

This is my boy riding his "broom". Last night, he and his sister had a quidditch match. It was quite exciting!

What, you don't know who this group is? Why it is Harry, Ron, and Hermione! Harry (cat), Hermione (McDonald's toy from Chronicles of Narnia), and Ron (Imaginext toy). I MUST get him some real toys! Or at least get him a new Harry!!! Ewwww. Harry needs a bath! I love seeing him with a belt (Still loves his belt!) playing book #2, with the snake. It is very entertaining.

I love how he shares his passion with the whole family. We all love dinosaurs, all 4 older kids have lightsabers, they love watching Avatar together, and both Morgan and Gavin are reading Harry Potter together. They are now finishing book #3.

I love Gavin's passion. I hope he grows up to be passionate about his life, his education, his career, his family, and his goals. I need to catch a little bit of his passion for things.

Accepting The Hinkley Challenge

I got a forward today. To celebrate the life of President Gordon B. Hinkley, there is a challenge going around to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. I'm going to do it. I haven't even begun to read this year, and honestly, I haven't completed the Book of Mormon since President Hinkley gave us the last challenge (I started back up as soon as I finished, but the farthest I got was in the thick of Alma, or was it 3rd Nephi?). This will be a wonderful thing for me. A little gift to celebrate a great man. As of today, there were over 8,000 people signed up to do the challenge. I'm keeping track of my progress at the right.

Here is the email message I recieved:

As most of you know, our beloved prophet, Gordon B.Hinckley passed away at the age of 97. His funeral will be on Saturday, February 2nd.

I was thinking of how I could honor his legacy and I came up with an idea. My friend and I have created a challenge for those willing to accept it: Read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. We are trying to get everyone to start on the same day. Here are the details:

Go to http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/ and create an account (free, of course). On Feb 4, 2008 (the Monday following the funeral) have an FHE lesson on the Book of Mormon and begin your reading. Each day you read, record what page number you are on by going to http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/.

We would like this challenge to be heard all around the world! Please forward this message to everyone you know. We would love to see over 1 million pages of the Book of Mormon read by the time this challenge has ended.

Do you want to show your support? Do you want to follow the prophet? Do you want to get rid of all of your excuses for not reading and become a warrior? Then join me in this challenge!!!
We are going to spread this throughout the news media (TV and radio) and we've already contacted Fox news, KSL, CBS, and ABC. But we cannot get the word out to everyone without your help! Please forward this on to EVERYONE in your address book. Time is of the essence!! This will be the one forwarded message that everyone will be happy to get :).
http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/createUser.php
-Jake Andersen

P.S. You can always see an updated list of those who have accepted the challenge by clicking here (www.hinckleychallenge.com/warriors.php)

Off I go to read, only 5.5 pages a day to finish by May 11, 2008.