Seeing as our 7 kids/teens are currently on their school vacation, each day they have about 4-6 ‘homework’ assignments from me to keep them occupied and growing. The tasks to be completed typically include a few chapters from the Bible, 1-4 hours of musical practice, several pages in their math/Spanish workbooks, physical exercises, creative writing prompts, etc. A few days ago I assigned 2 pages of free-writing to our older kids, instructing them to write whatever they wanted as long as they blessed me with good grammar.

Without working together, two of our preteen girls (Jackeline, 12 and Gleny, 11), both of which will be entering 5th grade at the beginning of a new Honduran school year next month, wrote on the same subject: “What I Want to do when I Grow Up.” Although their lists were much longer that what is included on this post, here are some of their independent thoughts on what they want for their futures…

Jackeline (age 12):

1. I want to marry Derbin [a young teen in choir and Bible study with her whom she’s had a crush on for the last several months]. I’m being realistic.
2. I want to have children and be a good mom.
3. I want to know God more.
4. I want to meet my biological dad.
5. I want my children to sleep in bunk beds.
6. I want my husband to work on a boat.
7. I want to wash my clothes by hand.
8. I want to adopt two children.
9. I want a blue house.
10. I want my husband to wear elegant clothes except when he’s going to play because I know it’s my job to wash out all those stains.
11. I want my husband to have hair.
12. I want to work in a hospital.
13. I want to teach my children about God, and I want them to pray with me.
14. I want to help a school.
15. I want to go to a museum.
16. I want to be able to spend alone time with Derbin, or whoever my husband is if it’s not him.

Gleny (age 11):

1. I want to be a stay-at-home mom.
2. I want to go to Russia or Italy.
3. I want to marry the man the Lord would have for me.
4. I want to go to church.
5. I want my house to be in total silence at night.
6. I want for there to be no telephones, computers, etc, at dinnertime.
7. I want those in my household to watch only one hour of television per day.
8. I want my husband to be Christian and to be a child of God.
9. I want to have a job like artist, restaurant worker, beautician, lawyer, or PE teacher.
10. I want that by 5:00pm all work must be done and put away for the day. [This is a new rule that Darwin and I have for ourselves in our household.]
11. I want my sons/daughters to go to the same school that I go to (Children of the Light elementary school) if it  still exists.
12. I want my children to get married when they are 21 years old.
13. I want my husband and I to have time together to talk, watch movies, and go on dates. [This is something that Darwin and I strive to do at least a couple time per week.]
14. I want my children to have respect for other people and among themselves.
15. I don’t want my husband to have any vices.
16. I want my family to be strengthened by the right hand of God.
17. I want there to be complete peace in my household.
18. I want there to be sincerity among us if God permits it.

At the end of Gleny’s rather long list, she included a spontaneous written prayer:

Father, you are the King, the All-Powerful, the Worthy, the Faithful. You have never told me that you do not want me in your Kingdom with you. Forgive all of my sins and all the many things that I have done with someone or something. Thank you for forgiving me, Father. Amen.