Yesterday morning we attended church with Ma and Big Daddy. David stayed in the Toddler Room. I knew he was in very good hands because Cate had loved the head teacher when she was David's age and hated to leave her when she got too old to be a "toddler". After I described our last attempt at leaving David, she reassured me that he would be fine. She asked what kind of toys he liked most, and off they went to find every truck, train, and tractor in the room. They gave me a pager just in case. It was difficult for me to concentrate on the sermon as pictures of David screaming went through my mind. I kept the pager close to me and wondered several times, "Is this thing working?" When we went back to pick him up he and the teacher had their backs to the door looking out the window. She turned around first, then told David to look. When he saw me, the crying began. He tried to fool me into thinking he had such a horrible time, but when I would ask him if he played and had fun he always nodded 'yes'. For the rest of the day he had to know where I was at all times. There is clearly still a lot of separation anxiety, but we are (both) making progress.

Rachael came to the service with us. There's NO way I could handle being away from both of them. She was absolutely perfect, sleeping through the entire service. At the end we waited to show her off to a friend. While we waited many people walked by us and would remark about the "cute baby", or "how precious"... But, one man, who clearly didn't have much but his faith and his family, stopped and asked if he could pray for her. With our permission he laid his hands on her and began to pray. He prayed that she would know God as her Savior and that He would always be with her. His words were simple, but very poignant and special. We thanked him and he left. It was a beautiful moment.

Prayerful hands