Primary Program

We had the best Primary Program yesterday! Ir was so wonderful! The kids each stood and said their name and that they were a child of God. Then each child elaborated on a theme that their class was in charge of. The scripts were not written by someone else. Each child wrote their own. It was really nice.

But, the best thing of all for me was seeing my awesome kids up there. Spencer's class was first and he did a great job. This is his last time. He turns 12 in January, so pretty soon he'll be passing the Sacrament. Andraia did an awesome job memorizing her part. She had a little stage fright and wouldn't talk into the mic, but we know she is a beautiful daughter of God. And finally....for the first time ever Brayden participated in the program.

I have to thank our wonderful presidency for making sure that everyone was included. Brayden sat in the congregation with us (another accoomplishment---he usually panics in the chapel---too many people) and I took him up on the stand when it was his class's turn. I helped him hold up a picture of Jesus. His fabulous teacher Sister Kristy Peterman said "This is Brayden and he is a Child of God. And we love him." Of course, the tears started flowing immediately and are flowing again. It has taken us 9 long years to get him in a position where he could participate like that. He has been working on holding and passing things out at school, so that fit right in with what the Primary Presidency thought he could do.

It may sound silly to be so excited about a small thing like holding a picture, but when your child doesn't speak or sing, or hold still, or sit well with his class, it can be very hard to think of ways for him to have that same experience.

Our Bishop was wonderful. He stood up after the program and said "My name is Steve and I am a Child of God." He reminded us that we are all children of God. Sometimes that is very easy to forget when you are the Mom or Dad. I was amazed at how many children were almost as excited as I was to see Brayden up on the stand. Our Primary President said she held back the tears until she saw him up there, then she lost it. And my friends, Kristin and Ann, are music leaders in the Primary. They said they started crying immediately when they saw us headed to the stand and didn't know how they would be able to see to play the piano later.

I am forever grateful to all involved for giving us that special experience of watching our son, who is so close to the Lord, let his light shine for our ward family to see.

Throw in the fact that my parents were there to enjoy it with us, and I was just thrilled.

Heck, we might even be able to attend Sacrament Meeting as an entire family again. That hasn't happened since Brayden was very tiny.

Yipee!