Happy Birthday Cameron!

This is our good friend Cameron.
He lives across the street,
although he can usually be found in my basement.
He and Seth are inseparable, but now he and the rest of us are inseparable too.
He comes with us to church, hikes, Ice berg, errands,
Geoffrey's football games, the dog park, family get togethers,
scouts, costco, did I mention Ice berg? He actually liked the idea of our staycation.
Somehow he is always in the car when I make it to Ice berg.

He is a great kid. Respectful, funny, caring, and helpful.

When we first moved in to this house, a neighbor came by to say hello.
In what I'm sure, she thought was a thoughtful way,
she "warned" us not to let my kids hang with Cameron.
In fairness, she had reason to be concerned, he didn't come with a good rep.

I quickly informed my kids,
"Beckstrand's decide for ourselves!,
of course he's welcome here."

Cameron's parents love him very much. They are just going through a lot this past year.
I know they don't let him hang here all the time because they don't care,
probably more because they think he's happier here.

I adore this kid.

I used to be this kid.

I remember clearly how much I loved hanging out at my friend Jenni's.
She was the only LDS family I knew.
I loved the chaos of her large family.
I LOVED Monday Nights!
I loved waiting for her family to come home from Church every Sunday , so I could have homemade chili and listen to records of musicals like
"Saturday's Warrior" and "My Turn on Earth".
Not that I understood what was going on, but I loved the feeling there.

Here's the mushy part,
I don't think I'm very good at this whole Mom/Homemaker thing.
I forget a lot of details, I can't keep up on a chore chart or a FHE chart.
We don't have a family theme for the year, I don't scrapbook, my house is a mess,
and now I have to daily convince myself it doesn't matter that I don't have a hip or pretty blog.
Not that I'm dissing any of the Mom's who have their act together, you know what I mean,
I'm just not one of them.
We have a 19 inch TV and a game cube.
This 13 year old boy would still rather hang here than his house with all the bells and whistles.
His house has all the junk food and no rules.
We have food storage and a "psycho perfectionist" mom always on guard.
(I'm not kidding, that's a direct quote from one of the herd, if you know me well,
you know how funny that is.)

Stay with me, I'm not fishing for pity,

Then here comes Cameron.

He WANTS to spend time with us.
While it seems as though the rest of this herd are striving to thwart all my efforts and spend as little time as a family as possible,

here comes Cameron.

Cameron thinks we are a blessing in his life.
His family even moved him back form California, in part, because HE MISSED US.
Who is blessing who?

Cameron blesses us, daily.
He reminds me it's not what the house looks like but how you feel inside it that counts.
He reminds my kids there are worse things than listening to Dwight Yokum
and being forced by your parents to SPEND TIME TOGETHER.
He asks to offer a blessing on the food.
He is often the first one ready for church on Sunday mornings.
Did I also mention that he's not LDS?
He just likes to go, he said it helps him feel calm.
Again, who's blessing who?

We will be found at Iceberg today, with Cameron.