Later, after they had had some lunch, he took them outside to play with bikes. After they were tired out, they rested in the hammock. Jefferson was a kind host and a true gentleman.
What impressed me more was the fact that in multiple cases, Jefferson stood up for the right without hurting anybody's feelings. One boy kept taking Heavenly Father's name in vain, and Jefferson gently kept correcting , and after a while he suggested he use "goodness" instead. And the boy did. Another time, one of the boys started to use bathroom language while they were eating, and Jefferson didn't take part at all in the jokes, and then, when the jokes didn't end he said that his family didn't use that kind of language, especially at the dinner table. All this was said without any of my interfering. I felt very proud of my son.
Today, when I picked up Gillian from school, her teacher was with her waiting for the parents to come and pick the kids up. She informed me that Gillian had done fantastically in her test and was very happy for her. Then, she proceeded to ask me if there was any special reason that Gillian couldn't take her sweater off and just stay on her t-shirt. What had happened was that Gillian was cold this morning and instead of a short sleeve shirt, she had worn a very light sweater, more like a blouse, and under it, like always, she had a white t-shirt as an undershirt. All my children wear undershirts under their clothes, whether it's hot or cold. It's something I learned in my mission from one of the moms of the families we would dine with. She had teenage daughters, all beautiful and smart, and very modest. She told us she had never had a problem with her girls wanting to wear anything immodest, and the reason for that being the fact that they wore these undershirts since they were little and were used since they were little to wear only modest clothes. I've done the same with all my kids. They are so used to them that it feels like a second skin to them, and they won't go anywhere if they don't have them on. And they will not wear anything that won't cover their t-shirts. Today was particularly warm, and the kids had played and run, and of course the teacher was thinking how to help Gillian not feel so hot. She had suggested taking her sweater off, and Gillian had flatly refused, even though the teacher has asked her several times. She had just told her teacher that her mom wouldn't want her to, and when the teacher asked her why not, she told her that it wasn't modest. Now you have to imagine me in the car, looking at the teacher, who had on a very low cut shirt and thinking how to answer her question of why Gillian couldn't take her shirt off without offending her. I mumbled something like 'we'll try to put something light tomorrow' and left it at that. As Gillian was explaining to me what had happened, I couldn't help but feel proud of my daughter and her example. It wasn't the fact that she hadn't taken her shirt off more than the fact that she had stood up for what she believed regardless of any pressure that brought tears in my eyes. In the end of the day, it's not how many books I have read to my children, or how many puzzles we've assembled or how many places we've visited that matters the most. What matters to me the most is that my children learned by faith, by study and by spirit, and by our example to stand up for truth and righteousness at all times. It's those qualities that will matter in the end and set them apart as strong sons and daughters of God.
