The Great Pumpkin

Sometimes it's easy to forget how very important we each are to our loving, kind Heavenly Father. So when we have those special glimpses into God's love for us, I think it's really important to share. 

This morning was a rough one for our kiddos. Especially Hudson. For some reason, he woke up with the urgent need to find his pumpkin stuffed animal that he lost over the summer. We discovered it was missing months ago and after scouring the house and the car, I thought it must have gotten left behind on a road trip or somewhere around town. I figured it was long gone. Hudson was in absolute hysterics. He was wailing and moaning and crying as if someone had died. He was crying so hard that he couldn't catch his breath and I thought he was going to hyperventilate. After trying to reason with him for about an hour and a half with no success, I was pretty upset and angrily sent him to his room. 

About the same time, I discovered Beau in the living room scribbling all over the living room wall with a pencil he found on the ground. I overreacted and shouted "NO!" sending Beau into a tantrum. When Beau gets upset, he yells at you and tries to hit and scratch. I picked him up and put him in his crib so I could begin cleaning the wall in peace. But of course there was no peace to be found. 

My spirits were down. I felt terrible for the way I was handling my children. I felt bad for the mean way I sent Hudson to his room and for my disregard for his tender feelings about his missing toy. Hudson's meltdown brought out my fears that I'm doing something wrong as a mother and ruining my poor sweet son's self esteem. 

When I finished cleaning the wall, all I wanted to do was call my mom and vent, but she's in Japan until the end of the month so I couldn't. Instead, I knelt down at the couch and imagined Heavenly Father sitting there to comfort me. I said a prayer and let Him know my concerns and fears and hopes for my children. In particular, I asked that somehow my children would know how important they are to Him and of their individual worth. I asked that He would help me know how to better mother my boys. 

I got off my knees and retrieved Hudson and Beau from timeout. I then had the impression that I should look for Hudson's pumpkin. A thought came to me that the pumpkin was in a sleeping bag we had used earlier this Summer. In my bathrobe and slippers, I went into the cold garage, got out a ladder, and pulled the sleeping bag down from the rafters. I took it out of its box, opened it up, and felt around the bag - it seemed like it was empty. I put my arm inside and felt around. Sure enough, I grabbed onto a soft round object in the foot of the bag. It was Hudson's pumpkin. 

Hudson was overwhelmed with joy when I presented him with his pumpkin. He broke down in tears of gratitude, hugging it tight to his chest. I helped him say a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father and related how I had been inspired to find it because of God's love and awareness of Hudson. I am so grateful to know that God lives and loves each of us so very much. Even the seemingly insignificant things in our lives, like that little pumpkin, are important to God if they are important to us.