"Come unto me, and listen to my words. Walk in the meekness of my light."
SO, today, in between cleaning, tending to wesley and preparing food for the next day's Thanksgiving, i decided to sit down to watch a movie with elise. michelle and the mister were out for the afternoon, wesley was nursing and so i was able to spend some time with my oldest child. around halloween time, i ordered "watcher in the woods" off of netflix to be able to see with elise but never got around to it. so, today i told her all about the history with this movie. back when i was 7 years old (her age), i went to a primary activity where we had to make a car out of a cardboard box and then have a "drive in" watching movies. they had two movies to view... watcher in the woods and dumbo. well of course everyone wanted to watch to first one so the presidency said that anyone under 7 years had to watch dumbo. i felt so grown up to be able to watch this movie, but i had no idea just what i was getting myself into. this movie scared the CRAP out of me! i got so freaked out that i have never seen it since. so, i really don't know why i thought that it would be a good movie to show elise. i guess i assumed that this movie was made in the 70's so it had to have the cheese factor now that i am grown up and the movies are better quality now so it wouldn't affect elise like it did me. maybe i thought it was time for her to see her first scary movie with her mom. i don't know really. but we watched it all the same. elise was warned that it might be a bit scary, but she was excited to see it. so, we started it. and it was JUST AS SCARY AS I REMEMBERED! then i started to wonder if this really was a good movie for my daughter to be watching. i mean it is a disney movie for kids so it can't be that scary right? wrong. there were so many times both elise and i jumped nearly out of our skins! but we finished the movie. elise just sat there looking at me, then she said "that was really scary." and she just kept staring. before long though, she was back to her normal self asking if she could go out and play with a friend... that is until i told her she would have to go and get dressed. that's when she started to freak out. okay, it was A LOT! her breathing got faster, she froze in mid step and the terror in her eyes... i felt a huge pang of bad mommy mode. i really probably should not have let her watch this movie. feeling bad i walked down the stairs to her dark bedroom and had her get dressed. i talked with her while walking back up about not being scared, that the movie had a happy ending and that is what we should remember, but she was just wanting to get outside to her friends. that's when she realized she forgot her socks. and that's when i realized i can't go back down with her. she has to be brave and get over her fear. she REALLY didn't like that idea. so, i proceeded to tell her she would be okay and then her screaming and crying about how scared she was to go into her dark basement of a room. that's when i knelt down and told elise we should say a prayer and Heavenly Father would help her to not be afraid. that didn't go down so well at first, but after some coaxing, she knelt down beside me and i said a prayer for her. it took a little bit of me explaining she needed faith that the holy ghost would be with her and take away her fear, and she eventually went down by herself and got her socks. she came bounding up the stairs as quickly as she could and sat down on the couch. i told her i was proud of her for being so brave and asked her if she felt safe when she did it. she said yes. then i asked if she was still scared, and she replied "a little." i told elise we needed to thank our Father in Heaven for watching over her and that she should say the prayer. she thanked Heavenly Father for helping her not be scared and then she said something that i wasn't expecting but was the best thing i've heard in a long time. she thanked Him for giving her a mommy that could help her to know what to do and that she was grateful for having me in her life. it was awesome. we hugged and said our i love yous and then she was off to play with her friends. leaving me with the feeling of the spirit so strong that it made the rest of my day. such precious moments. i am grateful for my daughter, her sweetness and her love. i am truly blessed!
