First things first. I cannot express the joy I felt as I saw your comments pouring into my inbox beginning yesterday. I was so relieved that you actually found me. A huge shout out to my little brother Steve, the expert in all things I choose to ignore. (I dare you to read his blog… I have no idea what he’s talking about.) Anyway, while I whined to him on the phone yesterday about my whole mess, he said, “Oh, I can fix that,” and within a few hours he did some kind of RSS feed forwarding trick that I believe somehow made my new blog show up in all your Readers and other feeds as if it were still coming from my old blog. He’s a freaking genius. Does anyone out there have any single sisters in Utah looking for the quiet and brilliant type (wink, wink)? Moving on now . . .
Have you ever noticed how powerful a child’s prayer is? My kids often blow me away with the goodness of their prayers. Especially Grant, my kindergartener.
“What is a prayer? … We sing, ‘Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed.’ Sincere prayers come from the heart.”
Well, Grant has prayed fish back to life, rain to stop, and the recovery of his lost brother at the mall. I’m positive he’s the sole reason my parents were not robbed on their mission in South Africa because Grant prayed EVERY day, “Please don’t let the bad man steal Grandma and Grandpa’s stuff.” If our family is driving down the road in a snowstorm and cars are sliding off the road all around us, we know we should ask Grant to pray. He usually thinks of it first, though. He’s good.
Unfortunately, he’s also sincere. There are occasionally the meal prayers that say, “Please bless the dinner that it won’t be gross.” Ha ha, very funny. Or “Bless Natalie that she won’t play with my toys.” What a sweet little selfish guy.
So, this has not been my finest mothering week. When my blog went down on Wednesday– the sad event that shall henceforth be called TDBD (The Day the Blog Died)– I spent the majority of the next two days either at the computer or thinking about the computer. My children were not the recipients of much deserved attention from me, and the attention they did get was mostly grumpy and distracted. I was frustrated. I claimed the kids were naughtier than usual, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what the real problem was. Nevertheless, this is Grant’s dinner prayer one of those nights:
“Thank you for this wonderful day. Sorry Clark and me made some sins. Please help us. And please bless the food. Amen.”
Aaagh. I hate it when they’re better than me! So then I reflected (who are we kidding? It was a guilt trip) about my own behavior, and last night when I put them all to bed, I apologized. I explained to them that my blog got broken and erased and that’s why I was so grumpy and spent way too much time at the computer. Rather than begrudge my obvious failings, they were earnestly concerned about my blog and began asking many questions about how my blog “got disappeared.” Grant had many theories. This one was my favorite: “I know. I know what happened. Maybe your blog was just tired, and it got so tired that it just went to sleep, and while it was asleep the computer just started re’rasing it.” Then he offered to say a prayer about it and told me that “you and daddy should probably say a prayer about that blog too.”
If I were really a smart woman, I would have consulted Grant before we even began the backing-up-data process. My children are my prayer mentors. And I’m learning that simply by virtue of the fact that I am babysitting their little souls for God, He wants me to talk to Him about them more often. This quote by Elder Holland inspires me every time I read it:
“Be believing. Keep loving and keep testifying. Keep praying. Those prayers will be heard and answered in the most unexpected hour. God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child—and to the parent of a child.”
I need to learn to put as much faith in my own prayers as I do in Grant’s. But if anyone needs any miracles or anything, let me know and I’ll pass it along to him . . . just in case.
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Forgive me as I include this announcement at the bottom of all my posts for the next little while. Thanks to TDBD, there have been a few technology-related changes around here. To my readers who subscribe to this blog through any kind of RSS feed, including Google Reader: As of April 1, (no, this is not a joke), this blog will be hosted solely at http://www.diapersanddivinity.com (wordpress will no longer appear in the URL). When that change takes place, the old feed will be reset and you will need to go there yourself and subscribe again (for the LAST time, I promise.) May this be the end of the transition….
Diapers and Divinity 
Is it a bit selfish of me to be kind of happy your blog died because that means my computer will let me go to it and comment? Hopefully when you transfer over, I’ll still be able to. We shall see.
I love children’s prayers, too. I get a little bit of everything from my kids’ prayers. Sometimes they make me giggle (or downright bust up laughing), but more often than not, they make me really think and I learn so much from what they say.
I do like the WordPress format. It’s easier for me to comment at work. I mean, when I’m only at home.
And your kids are so sweet.
I love it when my kids pray – really pray. (I get a lot of redundancy.) But when they really pray about things that are important to them, it chokes me up every time!
Please ask Grant to pray that my kids won’t sell me to the circus. My 18 year old told me today, “You get freaking MEAN when you write!” Since I refuse to re-evaluate my priorities, my only hope is that Grant softens my childrens’ hearts.
And I’m glad you’re back. I’ll find you and re-subscribe any time!
I love your posts Stephanie. Isabel doesn’t talk yet, but she still manages to make me feel guilty when I forget to bless the food. She folds those chubby little arms in anticipation of a prayer. where on earth does she learn these things?!
In response to your brother’s singleness, my sister is nowhere near Utah, but I am selfish enough to want her to marry an American just like me. How old is your brother? I’ll send her over.
Glad to see you are up and running again! Children’s prayers are wonderful. My Douglas has prayed away many a rain and or wind storm. It is so neat to watch their little prayers be answered and to watch them realize that Heavenly Father is listening. Such a testimony builder.
Maybe you should ask Grant about the baby thing. I think he would know if there are any siblings waiting. I know a girl that prayed her sister into their family. Who knows???
Your kids are just so great, lady. I love the prayers you’ve shared. my kids teach me all the time too. (Especially when they’re acting crazy because I’M acting crazy 🙂
Nothing more touching than a child’s prayer. My niece has a blood clot in her heart and my little guy prays that her “blood clutch” will go away every time he says a prayer. He prayed for my Grandma to have comfort for months after she died. They know so much more than we give them credit for.
Glad you got the bloggy business sorted out. Nothing worse than feeling so out of sorts with your writing outlet 🙂
Tonight, Emma prayed for mommy’s head to be “better”, on account of me telling her today how many times her shrieking hurt it.
Sigh.
I love, love, love how she talks to her Heavenly Father, and tell him the intimate minutae of her day. She’s such an example to me, as your kids are to you. Beautiful post.
glad you are up and running again! I can’t believe all the trouble you’ve had.
my son prays EVERY night “please bless the food that it will be yummy, not yucky”. seriously. every night. i really am not that bad of a cook. i think…
Well hopefully your new blog will be more liked by my phone! Sorry to hear about your loss, though. And kids say the cutest prayers ever. The day before I was scheduled to be induced with my baby my 7 year old prayed that the “doctor would be gentle when cutting mamma open to get the baby out” (I don’t have c-sections but it’s just fine with me if that’s how she thinks all babies are born). So freaking cute!
Childrens prayers are so uplifting. At what point does our faith stop being like that of a child. I wish I knew.
So glad to see you back and blogging!
And remember your son’s prayers when he becomes a General Authority.
Ya mind asking Grant to pray for my hubby to get a job? Maybe?
How nice to get back from a week in Georgia and have lots of blog catching up to do. On the prayer note. . . I was informed that the last time my daughter gave the prayer in Primary she prayed that her mom could keep her patience. Whoops, my dirty little secret is out.
I just discovered that I’ve missed a whole bunch of posts. So I’m back to the beginning again. I feel your pain. I accidentally deleted my entire blog back in February of 2008.
I really appreciated that quote by Elder Holland. And the prayers of young children are so sweet. Thank you for this post. 🙂