{ Jewelry Mishap...AGAIN! }

Kaylee is 7 and already has a love for jewelry. She has since she's been about 3. She gets them as gifts and treasures them. She is a typical girl in the fact that she is sentimental about her jewelry. Sometimes I wonder why and how I let this happen. She is so young and even though she knows how to take care of things and is responsible (most of the time) we still find ourselves fixing what has been broken or looking for a missing piece. So...

Yesterday she got off the bus and the first thing that came out of her mouth was, "I had an awful day!". I was worried and asked what happened and then she proceeded to tell me that she lost both of her silver bracelets she was wearing. I know, I know...I shouldn't let her wear them to school. I just don't even think about it because they never really leave her skin. I'm so used to always seeing them on her. It's just a part of her! Then I thought, "here we go again, jewelry trauma". So now I'm cursing myself in my head for having let this happen. I find out all the details from her: when, how, where. We go inside the house and I call the front office to see if anyone has turned them in. Nothing and they are leaving at 4:00. Well, it's 3:50 at this point, so going in and talking to someone is going to have to wait until tomorrow. She did tell me that she was out on the field walking for P.E. and she remembered having them in her pocket. I gather the kids in the car and head to field to see if we would be lucky enough to find them.

On the way there, I was saying a prayer in my heart that we would find them because I know how much she loves these two bracelets. Then I remember the first time I had my own prayer answered. I was walking home from school as a little girl and saw a girl crying and calling out for her dog. I was so sad at the thought of her not finding her dog so I said a silent prayer and a second later her dog showed up. It was such a small thing, but even at that age I knew I was supposed to learn the power of prayer. I have always remembered that and haven't ever doubted the power of prayer and faith for even the simplest of things.

So I ask Kaylee if she has prayed to ask Heavenly Father to help her find her bracelets. She said no and I told her it was a good idea for her to do that. We get to the field and nothing shows up. We walk all over and Kaylee is now grumpy and sad and she feels bad. I ask her again if she said a prayer and she says yes. I tell her that we'll find it. We'll go back tomorrow and ask her teachers. In the car she keeps saying that she is never going to see them again. That they are gone forever, being so dramatic. I explain to her that once she has said a prayer she has to wait for Heavenly Father to help her. She can't give up hope. She has to really believe that he will help. I told her that we were doing what we could to find them and He would help with the rest. That calmed her down and she was fine the rest of the night.

This morning, before we left for school, Kaylee said our family prayer (her bracelets being part of it). She also told me that she said 3 prayers last night. We go to the front office, nothing, we go to her homeroom teacher, nothing, we go to her science and history teacher, nothing, and then when we are heading to the P.E. teacher, her homeroom teacher came out and said that the boy who sits next to her found it in her desk. The reason we didn't look in this desk is because she didn't take it off there. She took it off in her other teachers room, put it in her pocket and then went out to P.E. That's why we thought it had fallen out of her pocket on the field or in the gym. By the time she got back to her homeroom she had noticed it was gone, so we didn't even think to look there, we just wanted her homeroom teacher to know what we were doing. I'm putting these pieces together in my mind and I know that her prayer was answered. That Heavenly Father did his part to help her. I can see it on her face too. She was so glad and relieved. I brought the bracelets home with me though, just to be safe!

I didn't want Kaylee to forget about this experience, so I thought I would type it up for her so she will remember. I'm glad that I was prompted to make this a teaching moment for her. As parents, everything is a teaching moment, but sometimes I feel like I rush through them instead of always listening for the things I should be teaching. Prayer is such an important principle to learn and there is no better way to learn it then to have your own personal prayer answered...even if it is a vain and trivial thing such as jewlery!