things to learn from casey

casey lives in our neighborhood and is in our ward. he has an out-there personality and is always happy to see EVERYONE. up until recently, jon and i really only knew of casey. (even though he had come into our sunday school class a few times) he recently started a job at the farm, milking cows. As soon as casey put two and two together, and realized he also knew us from the class, we have been instant buds. all thanks to him.

"hey man!! what's up?!" as he runs in to give jon a handshake and a smile. and then gives me a "hey" and reaches over to give a nice side hug. 

jon and i are both more prone to just stick to ourselves. in fact, jon and i, plus my family, all laugh and joke that jon has a "church-jon mode". he somehow manages to throw a hoodie over his head, put his hands in his pockets, and hide in a dark corner -all without actually physically doing those things. (reminiscent of the jon i knew when i moved irrigation pipes at the age of 14....)

so casey's instant, warm, GENUINELY friendly attitude towards jon was made even more pronounced since that often doesn't seem to happen. 

and jon came home one day after a casey visit with a smile on his face saying, "casey's great."

i jotted down a lot of mental notes that day.

a few other things that make casey someone to look up to: 

he is still in his teens. 

before his adoption into his current family, he had been in foster care. 

he comes to church every week despite having family to join him.

just today, casey joined, and sat with us during our sacrament meeting. 

before that though, jon and i were subbing in the primary. a few of the ladies, that are very comfortable with jon, were giving him a hard time when he wouldn't join in with the kids to sing about snowmen being really tall and eventually melting. like any other time, when he is asked or nudged into singing, jon just shrugs it off. 

so today, casey whipped out a hymn book, opened it up, simply shared and gave one open side to jon to hold so they could sing. 

other than when we sing patriotic songs, i think that was the first time i have heard jon sing in church. 

so today, i am thankful for casey and the person he is. his effortless, genuine, kindness is contagious. 

and he reminds me that i often forget the power in kindness. 

just a little snippet from our week.

chuck playing with his buddy jon.