Sometimes as a parent you work and work really hard to teach your kids good things, and then they do or say something and you wonder, “Isn’t anything I’m saying sinking in?” Like when we sit down with our kids for a few minutes to have an important discussion about proper behavior at Thanksgiving dinner and they keep repeating, “But when can I have a treat?”

But then sometimes as a parent your kids do or say something that makes you say, “They really are getting it!” They’ll give the sweetest answers about the true meaning of Christmas, or they’ll brush their teeth on their own, or they’ll give you a hug and tell you they love you or suggest a nice thing to do for someone else. Then it feels so good to know that somehow it’s sinking in, that somehow you’re not messing up this parenting thing entirely.

And then sometimes as a parent, your kids do or say something that just amazes you, and you think “Where did that come from?” (I guess this can happen in the negative sense too, but luckily this blog post is about the positive form.) For example, this conversation happened at tithing settlement last week:

Bishop: How are the Lymans doing?

Carson: We’re doing good!

Bishop: Oh, really? I want to hear more. What makes the Lymans so good?

Carson: Because we talk to each other a lot.

(At this point Josh and I are looking at each other behind the Bishop’s back, smiling and trying not to be too obvious as we give each other high fives.)

Bishop: Oh, yeah? That is good. What do you talk about?

Carson: Um, paying tithing.

Bishop: Oh!

Carson: And being kind.

(At this point Josh and I are just kind of flabbergasted. Bishop probably thought we had really prepped Carson for this interview. But inside we were wondering, “Where did he get that from? Do we really talk about tithing all that much? … We have talked about it before, haven’t we…?”)