Dear Lord

 Every evening, after bath and story time—we have prayer time.  I would pray for our family’s safety, prosperity, my thankfulness to God, and whatever else moved me that day.  Then, it would be Callie’s turn to pray.  It was a consistent trend we tried to weave in to our nightly routine, and it would always be neat to see what Callie would pray for each evening.

     The tricky part was keeping her in her own bed after the prayers were done and the lights went out.  She would sneak out of her room as soon as she heard us get in bed…begging to be able to sleep with us.  When she turned about 2 years-old, she started having nightmares and was fearful of monsters.  So, the new battle of getting her to sleep in her own bed begun, and we did everything from bribing with toys, to punishment, to even the dreaded putting her back in her own bed kicking and screaming (ten times).  It was a fight, but we kept at it and started to see some improvement.

     One particular night I was praising Callie on how well she’d done.  For an entire week, she’d slept soundly in her bed, with few middle of the night stirrings.  We read our book of the night, “The Elephants Child” and then started our prayers for the evening.

  “Dear Lord, I thank you for our many blessings you’ve given us…” I began as Callie squeezed her eyes shut and listened intently.  I finished with, “And I thank you for us all sleeping soundly and peacefully in our own beds, Amen.”    

     Then it was her turn, which was the part we both anticipated the most.

    “Dear Lord.  I thank you for my baby brother.  And I thank you for me sleeping in my mommy’s and daddy’s bed tonight.  Amen.”

*Trina