A tiny miracle

Yesterday at church I witnessed a tiny miracle in Dallin's nursery class. Two of the leaders in the nursery were on vacation and so that left 1 lady in there by herself with about 8 kids. I peeked in there "oh so discreetly" about 10 minutes after nursery started and poor Sister Day frantically motioned for me to come in. As I stepped inside I noticed 4 things right off the bat:

1. Chaos.

2. Sister Day awkwardly sitting in the rocking chair trying to soothe a very loud, frantic thrasher, who happened to be having separation anxiety.

3. 2 other boys having a matchbox car throwing contest.

4. Dallin walking toward me like he had just ridden a horse for a week straight because he had peed clear down into his shoes.

Rats! I was hoping to make it clear through our meetings with no accidents. I guess I was too optimistic.

After striping Dallin down, putting a diaper back on him and rounding up all the other kids to sit at the table for snack time, Sister Day asked who would like to say the prayer. A little boy named Andrew volunteered right off. Sister Day said, "Okay everyone fold your arms and bow your heads." I looked around as the prayer started (yes, I know, I had my eyes open ;) and every little kid was folding their arms and bowing their heads. It was so cute. I was on the opposite side of the table from Dallin, sitting between the 2 matchbox car throwers, when I looked over at him. Dallin didn't say a peep the whole time, he kept his arms folded and his head bowed....he actually looked....reverent. It was a miracle - because it wasn't a short prayer either. I don't know if it was peer pressure or what but this is how prayer time usually goes at our house:

"Come on Dallin time to say prayers."

"No!" Dallin screeches as he runs to his bed and does a face plant in the pillow. I follow him over to his bed and reach for his arms. My grasp is thwarted as he violently kicks his feet at me. I change my reach to hold his legs instead and he squeals with delight because he thinks he is being tickled.

"Don't tickle me, don't tickle me!"

"I'm not tickling right now sweetie. We are going to say prayers with Daddy. We need to say a prayer and tell Heavenly Father how much we love him."

Dallin answers by rolling away from us as we kneel down by the side of the bed. "Come on over and kneel down by us." Jason tries to persuade, but not persuasive enough, I guess because Dallin is just laughing and shaking his head in an emphatic NO.

"Okay, well Mommy and I are going to say a prayer and you can join us if you would like."

As we begin, Dallin slides off his bed and walks around to our side of the bed. My hopes are high and I cross my fingers that he will kneel down beside us...but no. Instead he climbs up onto Jason's calves and from there up onto his back. Jason is kneeling across Dallin's bed and so his back is relatively flat. Gradually, he stands up on Jason's back and inches up toward his shoulders. Neither, Jason nor I, try to pay any attention to him, in hopes that we send a message of the importance of reverence during prayer time. Once Dallin is actually standing upright near Jason's shoulders he jumps off his back as if it were a spring diving board and lands safely on his bed. He rolls over with a big grin on his face and yells, "AMEN!"

So you can see how, in Dallin's nursery class last Sunday, I witnessed a miracle as I watched him quietly bow his head, fold his arms and reverently say "amen" at the end. What a guy!