Jesus' little Sunbeams

So today was our Sacrament Meeting Primary Program.

(Sidenote for the non-LDS crowd: The children in our church go to Primary while adults attend Sunday School and other meetings. It's kinda like Sunday School for kids starting at age 3. Once a year the kids do a program for our Sacrament Meeting. Its super cute, and this is Lainey's first year.)

Okay, back to my story. The primary program was great. I was crying with tears of laughter because those kids were so darn hilarious. There were kids making funny faces (tongues sticking out and everything), one kid got a bloody nose, some kids were publicly picking their noses, and there was one kid that fell asleep after the first song. The poor kid's head was bobbing up and down until finally settling on the back of her chair. She looked hilarious with her head tipped all the way back against her seat, mouth opened wide. Eventually, her teacher pulled her onto her lap where she slept the entire time. I thought how sad her mom must be to see her child sleep instead of sing the primary songs with all the energy of her three year old heart. Oh wait- I was that girl's mom.

Lainey slept all the way through her first primary program.

After I got over how funny she looked, I didn't know what to do. Should I go get her? If she wakes up she'll freak out that she's not with her friends. Should I go sit with her while she sleeps? I didn't really want to be the mom that goes up there because of her child's bad behavior (or lack of behavior). So I stayed in my seat. Poor Sister Hamilton snuggled with her the whole time.

I have to say that Lainey has never been one to sleep at church. Even as a baby she wouldn't sleep in my arms and it would drive me crazy. In fact, while we lived at BYU, I would skip church and just go home because the church was right across the street. So why, years later, would she choose the Primary Program meeting to sleep at church??

Aside from that, it was really funny. Her teacher didn't see what was happening at first, so Lainey was head bobbin, droopin, and bowing. She woke up earlier than usually this morning and after Daddy told her to go back to bed, who really knows if she actually went back to sleep. After her narcoleptic episode, I'd guess she didn't. When the program was over, I went and collected her sleeping body from her teacher and she quickly woke up. She had the presence of mind moments after waking from her nap to see that all the other kids were getting treats and she hadn't gotten one. At least she has her priorities straight.

Gold star for every primary teacher like Lainey's who chooses simple moments to show these children just how much Heavenly Father loves them. And thank goodness for a sense of humor that kept me from feeling sad that Lainey wasn't singing her primary songs with the ad lib gusto of her fellow Sunbeams.