Prayer Time

Each night we gather to pray as a family and thank God for His blessings and ask for His help for friends, family and those for whom we wish to ask Him to help.

We all kneel down, except for Rose. It is her time to have an audience that is not allowed to notice her. She is very distracting. She runs around between each of us, jumps into nearby cupboards, stands on her head, puts her hands in the air and spins around and tries to push some of the children over. The rule is for the children to pretend Rose isn't there - we don't want to give her the attention she wants at this time.

But it doesn't work. She is too funny. It is hard to describe what she does so we had our camera ready tonight. In this photo Rose fell down trying to push Clare over. I did the "Dad pointing thing" and she grabbed my finger - obviously very concerned at the scolding! (Not really)

Lana asked me why we bother with nightly prayers when it is such a hassle and we can't possibly concentrate - even if Rose was asleep. My answer was simple. When we get "too busy" for prayers, niggling and frustration increases and family harmony decreases. So something must be working.

I figure that our laughter at Rose and other things that happen during prayer time are just part of our prayers. After all, one of the reasons to have children is because they are funny. It's a bit hard to stay serious when your youngest child suddenly puts her head on the floor, her bottom in the air and looks at you through her legs in the midst of trying to concentrate.