I am a Child of God

On May 23, Lucy, My Dad and I sang at Church. It was a really special experience.

I was asked to sing a few weeks before and was having a hard time deciding what to sing. I had started singing "I am a Child of God" to Lucy before bed each night. I had only done it for about a week, when I observed her playing and singing the song. I was amazed that she sang the whole song through, having never heard her sing it before. It then hit me that there was nothing more spirit filled than a child singing. Since the goal of singing at church is to invite the spirit, I thought the best thing I could do was have her sing with me. Building upon the idea I invited my Dad to sing with us. That way it would really relay the message that we are all Children of God, young and old alike.

It was the sweetest experience. I was worried because in practice she would rush through it and give me attitude about singing it more than once, but in the real performance she sang it slowly and very heartfelt. She stuttered a little at the beginning, I think seeing all the people took her back, but then she regained her confidence and remembered all the words. When she finished the first verse, she launched right into "Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam" which got a lot of laughs! It was really sweet. Then she tried to upstage me and grabbed the microphone when I was singing the second verse. It was a little comical, but still really invited the spirit. I really wish we had a video, but we decided against breaking rules and hiding the camera while we were trying to bring the spirit.

Anyway, what a special experience I will never forget. Lucy is so full of the spirit. I am so blessed to be her Mom and spend so much time with such a wonderful Child of God.

Cooking at its best!

Yesterday I was making biscuits (what a good homemaker huh? At least I cook every once in a blue moon!) I had just started measuring the flour, when I got a phone call and then had to take one of my hundred trips to the bathroom. When I returned, Lucy had climbed up on the counter (surprisingly, this is the first time she has done that. She is a pro on the playground, slides down the poles and everything, but I guess she just never thought about doing that at home. Lucky me!). She was just sitting there, concentrating, measuring the flour in the measuring cup and pouring it into the bowl. She had emptied almost the entire flour bag into the bowl.

She was concentrating and then looked up when she realized I was watching her and said "I am helping cook!"

What a sweet little helper! She just melted me. I let her help with the rest of the biscuits, even though it takes twice as long and makes a big mess in the kitchen and on me and her.

She loved kneading the dough and rolling it out. She mentioned that I was like Snow White, when I pulled out the rolling pin. She said she rolled for the dwarfs. I can't even remember if she does that or if Lucy made that up. She is getting quite an imagination these days. In fact, this morning we pretended to make about 10 birthday cakes for me, her and all of her toys and sang each one Happy Birthday at her request. When we ran out of toys to make cakes and sing to, I was thinking "What a relief," but then Lucy suggested we make a cake and sing to the pillow as well. I realized there would never be an end. She would probably keep finding things to make cakes for, so I distracted her with a book.

I think cooking is Lucy's favorite activity right now, which is great because it makes me like cooking a lot more. In the past I haven't really enjoyed cooking, but watching her light up while she helps make things is worth it. She is great at cracking eggs and rarely gets any shells in the bowl, which shocks me every time. I mean, I still get shells in the bowl! She loves to pour everything into the bowl and stir it and takes her jobs seriously.

She is so much fun these days, I am kind of worried about adding to the family and throwing off the happy balance we have come to, but I know we will love it too!

Lucy Prayers and Scriptures

I am so blessed to have such a sweet daughter. She brought me to tears during her prayer tonight.

It started by getting home late. We arrived around ten and then I wanted to wash my feet before bed because we had been at the beach earlier. Lucy (my little shadow) came in wanting to wash her feet too. Then she started getting mad because she wanted to sit where I was sitting while she washed them. She started bossing me around telling me to move and I said "No, I want to sit here." I tried to move her to the other side of me so she could reach the water better, but that just sent her into a tantrum. She started screaming and crying, so I finished washing my feet and started brushing my teeth.

She cried and cried until we got in bed and then she started to calm down. We talked about what had happened and how I didn't like it when she yelled at me to do things. She sobbed that she was sorry for yelling at me to move and tried to explain why she wanted to sit there (which I still don't understand, but she definitely had a reason).

We got in bed and then Lucy started crying again with a worried tone "We didn't read scriptures. We have to read scriptures scriptures." Although she was very tired, I couldn't deny such a sweet request.

Lucy offered the prayer. She started off in a calm collected voice "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. Thank you for scriptures." And then just totally broke down sobbing all of a sudden "Please... help Lucy... feel... better and not... yell at... mommy."

Before she had closed the prayer we were both sobbing, although I was trying to hide it from her so she wouldn't ask me "Why" and then I would have to explain tears of love to her. She just wants so much to be good and do what I ask her and sometimes she is just to tired and emotions get the best of her. I have helped her to pray and ask forgiveness over things a few times before, but this time she felt serious sadness over being mean and she prayed about it all on her own.

I am so lucky to be with her every day. I am beginning to truly understand why the Savior taught us to be like a little child. She is so teachable and so forgiving of other's mistakes. Here she is thinking the whole thing was her fault, when it wasn't as if I was being really patient, plus I kept her up past the hour of reasoning ability.

Anyway, we read scriptures and Dave sneaked out to take a shower. It really upset Lucy once she noticed he was gone and she wanted to wait until he was there to continue. We only started reading scriptures as a family about 2 months ago, but it has certainly become a huge part of her life. She loves reading the stories and makes sure we read them every night. I love it when she talks about "Lamey" and "Lemul" because they are kind of "lamey." She always asks why the lamanites are being mean and why they are fighting (and "why" about every other picture). When people do mean things she has started talking about Jesus and how they aren't making him happy, which I don't remember explaining to her, but maybe she learned it in Nursery. She is definitely not going to let us off the straight and narrow path anytime soon.