Drive, determination, and just plain stubborn

It was a gorgeous March morning so we decided to walk to church today. The kids enjoyed it and were excited to walk. That meant that we got to walk home from church as well. As we were getting ready to go, I put my church bags on the stroller which included my purse and my church bag that contains magazines, gospel art kit, primary manual, and the like. It's a pretty heavy bag. Anyhow, when we started walking Nathan asked if he could push the stroller with his little sister in it. Jeff said that he could, but he told Nathan that he didn't think he could push it all the way home. It was pretty heavy with all of the stuff and it was almost entirely uphill. I mean, the stroller probably weighed more than Nathan does. He's eight, but he' still pretty thin. Anyhow, he started pushing it kept going. I asked him multiple times if I could help but he took the comment from Jeff as a challenge. He had to stop for just a second multiple times to shake his arms since they were hurting, but he kept going. There were a few times were I wondered if the people passing by thought I was torturing my young son by making him push a stroller that weighed more than him up a steep incline while Jeff and I walked behind him holding hands. However, he kept going and going until we go home. Once we were home he said to Jeff, "You said I couldn't do it and I did it". I was very proud of him. I'm hoping he keeps that drive and determination and uses it for the things he wants to accomplish in life. Sometimes my very stubborn kids drive me absolutely crazy (like when Addison through a HUGE fit today in nursery), but I'm hoping it will take them far in life.