If you’re tired of reading about how sweet my seven year old is, feel free to click the “x” in the top right-hand corner. But, I just had to record this day with him.
I was completely exhausted yesterday due to one little Jett Takle preparing for the 2028 Winter Olympics inside my belly the night before. But, I wasn’t going to dare miss out on watching John Henry receive his Servant Leadership Award yesterday afternoon at school.
When I told him he was going to be receiving this award, he responded, “Wow! That’s the award for putting others first!”
By the way, Anna’s expression in the background of the pic just makes me laugh. Sweet Anna Takle, you would definitely get the award for “Most Artistic in Fashion” or “Most Social” or “Most Likely To Make Her Mother Laugh.”
Proud, but still so stinkin’ tired when we got home, John Henry gave me a letter.
Dear Mom I hope you are ok. You are the best mom ever. I can not beleve your my mom. I am going to let you chose what you want to eat if we go out to a restront. If Dad is flying I will pertect (protect) you. I am glad you are my mom. You chose the right man. You chose Chris. From John Henry
*Disclaimer: He is referring to Kris….not some other Chris. Thought I should clarify before this blog lost its family rating.
What is in a seven year old to acknowledge that I chose Kris? To say, “You chose the right man?”
At the beginning of the school year, John Henry needed some answers about why he has two dads. I explained the best I could so he would understand. In the back of my mind, I’ve always wondered if he would one day struggle with the fact that he has two dads and his siblings have one.
But, in letters like this, I see a young man who is thankful that Kris is in his life. I see two dads who love him so sweetly. And, I see a Heavenly Father who has never let him down.
And, that is redemption.
DustyTakle.com 
hold tight to that letter! What a sweet boy. He has a heart of gold 🙂
I love it that he was proud of “putting others first”! As for that sweet letter…frame it! Put it where you can see it everyday. I love you & your family..
OK, so now after mopping up buckets of tears, I can finally type. John Henry you are one of “Our Gifts From God”! We are SO blessed to have you in our lives! God has GREAT things planned for you. You do have a “Servant Spirit” and a heart of gold and have always put others first. I am so proud of you and love you very much. You ARE blessed to have NOT one but TWO Dads that love you very much and I am proud to have the same name as you (mine is Landreth, too, and always will be, just like yours)! I am also glad your Mom chose Kris. He is a good man and a great Dad to you and Anna and Jett. We are ALL so blessed to have you, John Henry Landreth, in our lives and our family!
Love you bunches,
Aunt Brenda (Landreth)
Brenda – I am right there with you – tears from just how darn sweet that young man is!
Thank you for sharing this story – it certainly puts life into perspective.
Wow! What a blessing that was to hear about the love! Yeah, yeah,,,lol, tears too, but tears of thankfulness, gratefulness, of God’s love to pour out into others with JH, that you and Kris imparted..taught, opened his heart to. loved the blog Dusty!! God has an awesome plan unfolding!
All I can say is God knows what He is doing…the insight of that child is amazing…if we could all get a true glimpse of destiny it would make all our journeys sweeter….
Ballin’ like a baby here!
There is a man inside that little boy. I love that he is going to protect you. That is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard. Precious!
pure sweetness!!
well, dang woman. i thought that letter was precious when you first told us about it, but now after your post i am all teared up.
There is something about the tenderness of the first born… great post.
John Henry is the sweetest little man I have ever known. There is so much Jesus in that little man… He inspires me with his kindness, love and coolness. God has incredible plans for him. JH’s love is infectious.
This made my day. You are so blessed.
That is the most awesome note you could ever get from JH. I love it. I know you will cherish it. I also love that he drew lines to write it on so that it would be neat. Too cute! 🙂
RE. DEMP. SHUN.
OK so I’m way behind on reading your posts and just saw this one, but I had to comment. That is the sweetest, most precious thing a mom could ever hope for. You have got to feel like the most blessed woman in the world to be his parent! You’ve done a great job with him and it seems as if he will be taking after his grandfather, leading a church someday. I love that he appreciates having two dads! We allow our adopted daughter to see a few of her biological family members (her maternal grandparents and one aunt and uncle–the ones we know are good folks who genuinely love her) and at first some of our family members questioned our decision to allow her to see them. I told them all that a child could not have too many people loving them! So she has one extra set of grandparents compared to most kids…lucky her! And who wouldn’t want an extra aunt and uncle to help spoil her on the holidays? Funny thing is, her family treats us better than some of our “real” family members! 😉 But we love them all, of course!