Okay, so I have taken some liberty with the photo above. It was not taken right after praying the rosary together. Rather, it is from the other morning.
I had gone into the children's room to check on the kids and found two of them sleeping ever so sweetly, whereupon I tiptoed out of the room, grabbed the camera and stealthily captured the moment to smile back on later.
The moment right now though - as I write this post to be published tomorrow morning - will not be captured on film. For I dare not move!
On my left, the feet that tried to kick me today are woven through blankets, one atop my lap and the other nudging my side as a boisterous four year old who lies perpendicular to me gets some much needed sleep. On my right, a sweet seven year old who offered her brother's earlier painful infractions up shortly before falling asleep lays cuddled into me. If I move, I may wake one or both of them and this moment is just too peaceful for that to happen.
What brought on this moment? Youtube rosary videos!
Yes, we've been continuing my newly forming nightly rosary habit here and, tonight, as they often do, Jack and Nina joined me.
Jack, who had caused a late afternoon and evening to be punctuated by moments that make "challenging" seem like an understatement quieted right down as we began praying the Joyful Mysteries online with video clips. In fact, his behavior went from crazy to calm to kinked out. Before we had prayed our third decade, he was asleep.
Nina was equally soothed by the rosary, but not to soothed to sleep right away. Rather, she prayed the entire rosary with me and then delighted when I told her I was also going to pray the Coronation of Mary mystery. We chose a video we had never viewed before to help us with this. Between prayers, she commented on how beautiful the images in the video were and, then, when the decade was done, happily cuddled into me and was asleep in seconds.
We may have concluded our rosary praying for the evening with a decade in honor of Our Lady Queen of Heaven, but what we experienced, in quite a literal way, Our Lady Queen of Peace! (Or, rather, both.)
I so needed Our Lady's intercession this evening. I dare say, I always do.
I wonder if she is smiling down at my peace right now as I am doing at my children's? Somehow, I think she may be.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace,
Blessed Mother, pray for us.
Blessed Mother, pray for us.
If you leave a link to a faith formation idea or a reflection relevant to raising young children in the faith in a comment here or on our Training Happy Hearts Facebook page, I will pin it on the Training Happy Hearts: A Call to Faith Formation in Young Children Pinterest board.
