Spiritual Guidance with my Little Ones.

Early morning thunderstorms sent a scared little Ellie fleeing to my bed at the crack of dawn-- around 5 am. Eva's afternoon nappy did not happen, since church is at 1 pm. So, it would be a huge understatement to say that the girls were less than well-behaved at church.
My plan to let Ellie take her new magifying glass (a quiet toy-- so I thought!) backfired terribly when she repeatedly and very loudly insisted that I opened my mouth so that she could use it to see what color teeth I have, and had a meltdown when I kept hissing "No. Now stop it!"

So I had to carry my 4 1/2 year old out of the meeting.

Then Eva, who was kept busy eating green grapes, had a similar crazy attack when, after stuffing 2 of the grapes into her mouth at the same time, I wouldn't let her have a 3rd just yet. How dare I! She began flailing and flopping like a dead fish, screaming and trying to hit me in the face.

After sacrament I took Ricardo home so he could get ready to go into work, and Eva came along for the ride. I had a feeling I needed to let my parents know that I was leaving the building and that I'd be back soon-- just in case Ellie had some kind of emergency during primary. I could only find my dad, so I told him and we left.

When we came back I went to Relief Society and I felt kind of funny, uneasy and restless. At about a quarter till, it was too much. Deciding I couldn't sit there anymore, I grabbed my bags and made a quick exit. I busied myself taking my bags to the van, and gathering the girls' coats in preparation to leave.

I was coming around the corner when I heard someone saying, "Your Mommy should be in there, sitting in the front."

That's where I'd been sitting... Then I saw that it was little Ellie, she was heading in there to find me. I called out to her and she turned around and ran to me, and the tears started. Her teacher explained to me that she'd been helping to put the chairs away and pinched her finger in one of them... and her finger was bleeding pretty steadily. She'd already gotten blood all over her other arm and hand.

When I looked at it she started howling-- I could tell it really hurt. She wouldn't let me take her to wash it, wrap a paper towel around it, or anything-- luckily by this time Relief Society had been adjourned, and a sister standing in the hall nearby had been rummaging in her purse for a band-aid, and found one. With her help we quickly whisked it onto her finger (even while she screamed and kicked and protested).

Grandpa helped me get the girls out to the van, and she calmed down quickly on the way home-- especially after I promised her a raspberry ice cream cone.

Once home, I let her eat the ice cream sitting on the sofa watching a recorded episode of Dino Dan-- her favorite show. (She's normally never allowed to eat in the living room, so I figured it would be something special to make up for her bad day!)

She was soon feeling like new, and after making sure I'd let Papi know about her boo-boo, she forgot about it. Kind of.

Anyway, I guess the point of the whole story is, that while it was kind of a crummy day at church--- The Spirit was guiding me, giving me a warning as to what was going to happen to Ellie. Although I didn't realize what it meant and obviously had no idea she was going to pinch her finger, my uneasy feeling allowed me to be in the right place at the right time. When she was looking for me I was able to intercept her in the hall, and take care of her more quickly.

I'm grateful for the Spirit that prompts me in ways that keep my children safer and allow me to be a better Mother.


****Read about how it's happened to me before, allowing me to prevent a possible disaster with Ellie.