As a Mustard Seed

When I went to register the boys for school way back in August I discovered that Cooper was not in compliance with the immunization rules here. He received one of his Hep B shots when he was four months old. According to this school district he had to have been at least six months old. They wouldn't let me register him.

It's kind of frustrating to be told that something you did five years ago was out of line with rules you weren't even aware of, especially when we thought Cooper was completely up to date. I went home with the completed paperwork and instructions to get him another shot.

As I waited for our health insurance to kick in I watched the days tick down to the start of school. I finally went in to the office the week before school started and asked about getting Cooper into a class. The secretary was alarmed that I'd been turned away and took the paperwork from me immediately. She reassured me that the district would send me a letter letting me know by when he would need the shot.

The letter came last week and the date they specified was this coming Monday. The boys didn't have school today so I made an appointment for this morning. Cooper knew that he would need another shot and had been asking when it would happen, so a few days ago I told him.

He was really worried about it. This morning he threw a massive tantrum, no doubt as a way to stall the inevitable. In the car on the way we said a prayer that he would be brave. Then he asked me to say another one as we sat in the office waiting. He said one more just before the nurse came in, asking that it wouldn't hurt.

That request made me nervous. How could it possibly not hurt? I understood asking for courage, but I worried that asking for it not to hurt at all might be too much.

He opted to have the shot in his arm. I sat next to him and held his hand and I could feel him tense up as the nurse held up the syringe. She asked him to sit as still as he could and she warned that she might have to do it a second time if he squirmed. That was good motivation. He was completely still.

As soon as she finished she congratulated him on how well he had done. He asked if it was over and she assured him that it was.

He turned to me with wide eyes and whispered, "I think the prayer worked!"

I know that we have taught our children to pray and I know that we have set the example of faith, but sometimes I am reminded, and humbled, by their faith and the lack of my own. It made me think of this talk from Elder Holland from the April 2013 General Conference. I often think those words, "Help thou mine unbelief."

Today was a good lesson in faith, for both me and Cooper