"Please God, don't wake me up"

Once again, I didn't witness this story, but Carey did and I get to re-tell it.

Ever since Lincoln's birth, Greta has changed her sleep pattern. She's usually not down until 8:30 or so, and she sleeps later -- until 7 or so. Problem is, the Mirant Corp. coal train rolls through our Alexandria neighborhood between 8:30-9 p.m. and often wakes her up before she reaches a deep sleep. So for a few weeks she would always blame the train for her inability to sleep. Didn't matter if there was actually a train or not or if she was just napping or it was bedtime. "The train woke me up," became her refrain.

The second element of this story: I've adopted Carey's habit of saying prayers with Greta after tucking her in to bed. First I ask her who she wants to pray for. "Lincoln," she'll say. My prayers always start the same way: "Dear God, Hi, God, please keep Lincoln healthy and happy..." Greta echoes the "Hi, God" portion as she lies on her back and waves at the ceiling. Yes, it really is that cute.

Well, a few nights ago, Carey was saying prayers with Greta and after she had wished her grandmothers and little brother and a few other friends all the best, she stopped and said this post's headline: "Please God, don't wake me up."

It seemed brilliant to me then and it still does. Omnipotent God, spending His time keeping our 2-year-old from sleeping. Sending trains, thunder storms, and anything else that might disturb her slumber. And our darling daughter, who has a nightly conversation with Him, directly asking if He could just knock it off so she can sleep.