Bunnies for Congo

Josh has been doing this really amazing art class the past three days. I will say that it was really intense, but so, so great. The man who teaches it is wonderful at what he does. He raises the bar very high and expects great effort, but is so encouraging at the same time. He just kept stressing that art is a learned skill and just takes a lot of practice.

I would say that historically art has not been Josh's strong suit (although he is only 6 1/2, so I don't want to write anything off at this point!) : ) He typically just doesn't want to spend the time doing it. But...he did so well over the past three days and really enjoyed it. The class ended today and he came home and just wanted to draw all afternoon. I love it!

Yesterday's homework was to draw a bunny and name it. There would be three prizes given for the best bunny with the most original name. Top prize was $50, which of course had all the kids excited. Now keep in mind that there were over 100 kids there, so odds of winning were slim, but they were still all abuzz about what they'd do with $50.

It was so precious to hear Josh's plan. He came home and said, "Mom, I've gotta win that prize. I need to send that money to Congo. *pause* Well, actually, I'll probably share it."

So I said, "Oh, you're going to keep half and send half to Congo?"

And he responded, "No. I'm going to send half to Congo, and half to Haiti."

Oh melt my dear mommy heart. Love that kid!

He had a purpose and got right to work. However, within 24.6 seconds, he was done. He had drawn a bunny that he decided to name Cow. I loved the irony for the name, but the picture? Well, here...you see...

I'll just say I tried to be as encouraging as I could. Bless his heart.

We were gone in the afternoon for the home study meeting and then ended up having dinner over at our neighbors' house, so it was almost bedtime when we got home. Uh oh. We had forgotten to finish Cow. He still needed to be colored. Josh decided, though, that he wasn't crazy about Cow the Bunny after all and wanted to try again.

He worked for awhile and tried a couple of different times, and here's what he came up with instead. Meet Jumping Jack the Bunny...(Just FYI, the writing above is the bunny's name, and his name and age. It's just hard to read.)

We were so proud of him! He spent a little more time on it, and this version was much better! We don't know yet who won the contest as we had to turn the bunnies in today, but I'm just proud that he wanted to do a good job. And I may be partial, but I think Jumping Jack the Bunny is kinda cute...um, especially when compared to Cow the Bunny. And if he somehow is lucky enough to win the $50, I know there will be people around the world who are blessed. All because of a little bunny in the grass.

Here's a few other pics of him in the class. Enjoy!