Cooper talks to God

Since moving to Ohio, we have been trying to make prayer a part of our days, trying to instill the habit of prayer in Cooper's life.   It has come at dinnertime and bedtime, uttering the prayers we all know and grew up reciting.  He started to say those prayers on his own.

But last night, Cooper uttered his own, heartfelt prayer.  With no help from me.

Here's what happened:

"Cooper, I have to tell you something.  Today, we left monkey at Walnut Creek Cheese.  He's at the store, and we can't get him back until Monday."

"Get monkey, mommy."

"I can't get monkey.  The store is closed, and isn't open until Monday.  And I hope that they will have monkey.  You will have to be patient and wait until then."

The tears started rolling. "Hurry mommy.  Go to the store and get monkey.  Is he hurt?"

"Monkey isn't hurt, Cooper.  Hopefully someone found him, and will take good care of him until we can get him back."

"Cooper want monkey.  Go get monkey, mommy."

"Cooper, I can't get monkey until Monday.  Tomorrow we will go to church.  Then the next day we can go and *hopefully* get monkey.

At this point in the conversation Cooper starts crying uncontrollably and uttering things I don't understand.

"Cooper, when I'm upset I pray.  Would you like to pray and ask for monkey to get back to you safely?"

"Yes"

"Ok, let's pray".

And just as I started to say something for Cooper to repeat, he went ahead and uttered the prayer all on his own.

"Dear Jesus, please get monkey back soon. Amen."

My eyes watered with tears and my heart beamed.  

It was Cooper's first prayer that he prayed on his own. 

no memorizing. 

no repeating.  

His first conversation with God.

NashVegas

The last week of our life was spent basking in the glory of being out of our normal element, soaking in as much time as we could with people we love and adore.

We went to Nashville, baby!

My heart is full every time we visit.

Maybe it's the feel of the city.  Maybe it's the people we know there.  Either way, my heart soars every time we are there.

Andrew spent most of his time with his cohort.  They had a reunion - holla! If we could all have yearly reunions with people like that, our lives would be more full.

Cooper and I spent most of our time with Cheryl.  C, we love you and are so thankful we got to have fun with you and make some great memories.

We laid in the hammock.

We played.

We had escapades in Nashville.

We went to the zoo.

We visited aunt Wilma.

Cooper and I also got the opportunity to spend an evening with the whole fam.  Cooper sat and ate dinner with Rhonda, Madison, and Reiley.  I decided that is a scene I should probably get used to.  My son surrounded by girls.  I basked in the glory of Cooper being occupied by others' company and I had some real adult conversation.  Glor. i. ous.

I also got the chance to have some time away with Andrew and Frank.  Frank is from Mississippi, and he has a thick southern drawl.  Whenever Andrew talks to Frank on the phone, I know who it is because of the very thick accent on the other end of the phone. There were a bunch of prom goers out that night, so we made sure to score a prom photo op, too.

Nashville, we love you.  Nashville family and friends, we love you more.

We are now back to reality, though.  And today's reality: on the perfect day to sleep in a little, Coop is up at 6 am.

PS. How in the world is it already May?