What a change 7 months makes

When MrBrawn first came to our house I thought, "this kid is as dumb as a box of rocks". I've never thought that about a kid before! When I would put him on time out I would ask "why are you on time out?" his reply, "Cuz I wanna play with a dump truck" "No, you are on time out because you said the F word, why are you on time out?" "Cuz I wanna play with my dump truck" This would go on for the entire 3 minutes of time out!
Now nearly 7 months have passed. He's become quite articulate and very verbal. He can memorize quickly and remembers details well. We passed a house that we had been at once 3 months later, from a different direction and he pointed at it and said "Mommy, we were there once!"
To hear him pray will increase your faith. He goes to God with everything. He loves to watch Veggie tales and re-tell Bible stories.
We put in a new gate on the front yard and he was able to get out in less than three minutes. This is no ordinary gate. It is the kind that is state approved to put on a pool fence because it is virtually unworkable by small children.
Unfortunately, because he is so smart, he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. The judge wants kids to be at every court hearing if possible. After this last court hearing he acted out so strongly. He wrapped a long, thin toy around his neck. He told me he was going to cut me and my family and throw us in a fire. When I asked what fire he told me there is a volcano between here and his visit. He wants to go home. He's been told by birth family that all they have to do is get a job and a place to live and he can go home, so he is pinning his hopes on that. But, he heard the judge scold his parent. He also will bring  up "the ambulance dropped me off at your house" occasionally. I've corrected him and reminded him that the ambulance does not take people to houses and another lady brought him to me. I've also reiterated that it is not my decision if he stays here or not, and that only the judge makes that decision.
In the past we've talked about the fact that my job is to keep my kids safe. I've told him that when the ambulance took him to the hospital the judge wanted to make sure that he would be safe so he was sent to my house and now the grown ups have lots of business to do to make sure that he will always be safe.
On Monday his daddy told him that he would be going to jail for a while. He explained to MrBrawn that he had made a bad choice and had the car accident and now he had to go on a long time out. MrBrawn often tells my daughter information before me and I heard him telling her in the car on Monday evening that he did not like that his daddy would be going to jail but that he "maked" a bad choice and had to.
That night as he was settling down before bed I noticed a behavior that I had only seen a couple of other times. As he was driving his car he would say "oh no daddy, watch out, kkssshhh (sound of crashing) and crash his car. He repeatedly crashed his car and has continued to do so.
Preschool has reported a marked improvement in him. They say he is coming out of his shell. He has friends and is learning a lot. Today both of the boys didn't even give me kisses or hugs, just kind of waved over their shoulder as they headed in for some fun.

"God was on this!"

My big kids are in a stage of circles and x's. If we like it, we circle it, if we don't we x it. They're sitting at the table doing some coloring and activity books. Mr Brawn just yelled "Mama come look!" When I get to him he's pointing at the word "two" written in dashes in order to trace it. He pointed at the T and says "God was on this."
I didn't understand, so I said "It's OK, you can write on it." (I thought he wasn't sure what to do).
He said, more emphatically, "No, Mommy, God was on THIS." and pointed to the T.
Then I saw it, a lower case T looks like a cross.
I said "Oh, yes, Jesus was put on the cross."
He jumps in and says "Yeah, those mean guys put him there and he was stuck."
"And then what happened?" I asked.
"He died"
"And then?"
"And then, and then, Him comed back ALIVE!!"
...As I walked away to get a baby wipe I heard Ms Brains say, "we should x that, cuz it was mean" and Mr Brawn say, "No we should circle it cuz he came alive"...

Ahhh, about fifteen minutes ago I was ready to sell all my kids on Ebay. And then My Heavenly Father decides to show me this.