My Matt

My Matt is one funny boy. He has always kept us guessing and laughing. You can't help but smile and laugh when he is around. My best friend Rebekah says she can't wait to see what Matt does when he grows up. His mind seems to always be coming up with the next big thing. Mostly his big things involve him making money. He likes to sell, sell, sell. The funny thing is he really doesn't seem to care all that much about the money itself, he just likes to MAKE the money. Here are some of his past money-making adventures:

1. He collects aluminum cans and sells them to his grandaddy for a penny each. This has been going on for at least a year now.

2. He has grown watermelons the past two years and sells them to our family.

3. He sold pecans in our backyard to whoever happened to walk by. Unfortunely, that was usually only his siblings or me. He set up a little stand and sat out in the freezing cold trying to make a buck. He did have have his old pet chicken Patti to keep him company. They were quiet the pair. My mother happened to be here one morning when he was out selling and she felt so sorry for him she bought almost all the pecans.

4. One day he and Abbie took almost everything out of my deep freeze, set it up in the back yard, and attempted to "sell" it back to me. I have to admit, I did pay them a quarter each because I was desparate to get all that frozen food quickly back into the freezer.

5. He has tried to sell sips from the outside faucet to Tyler and Abbie as they walked by.

6. My personal favorite - he set up "The First National Bank of Matthew" in his room. He had a desk and a sign and he made little account books for me and for the other kids. He would take the deposits, but it was hard to convince him to let us withdraw the money.

He gets it honest though. My dad and two of his brothers all started their own businesses and were/are very successful with them. I was worried for awhile that I might be getting a Mini-Donald Trump on my hands, but one instance took care of that worry.

Matt had been saving diligently for a new shotgun. He heard about a friend of mine who was having a lot of expensive adoption expenses. He took $8.00 out of his bank and told me to give it to her. I asked him if he was sure he wanted to give that much. He said, "A kid is more important than a shotgun, isn't it?" My mommy-heart was filled to the brim right then. Oh, how I pray he will use his passions and desires for the glory of our God!