Quiet Book

I have to say, that as far as 19 mo. old boys go, Tyler is actually very well behaved during church. He's definitely not perfect and we probably have to remind him to use his "quiet voice" 100 times during sacrament meeting, and have been working on saying "amen" reverently instead of yelling it at the end of a prayer, but for the most part I couldn't ask for anything better. He's usually-not always, there are definitely some sundays I want to bury my head in the ground b/c he is being SO loud- a little angel for the 1st half of the mtg and will just sit on one of our laps and doesn't move, doesn't talk, folds his arms for all the prayers, listens to me as I "explain" what's happening during the sacrament (I just tell him that we think about Jesus and Jesus loves him and wants him to be happy and to be a good boy, etc.) and he nods his head yes and watches everyone. It's the second half of the meeting that he starts to get a little restless and wants to move around, which do you blame him? By then I'm usually restless and want to move around too! (I can't stand it when I see parents that get mad at their kids when they don't sit perfectly still on the pew for the full hour. They're children, they physically/developmentally can't sit still that long!!! Sorry, that's a 'soap box' issue for me) So I let him hop down off the bench and he likes to play with the hymn books (take them out "read" them, put them back) read books on the floor, whatever. But by the last 15 min. he's just had it and starts talking and whining and saying bye-bye because he wants to leave; so I've been trying to decide what we could bring that would help him get through the end of the meeting and at the same time not be distracting (loud toys) to those around us. I looked into getting a "quiet book" from Deseret Book but they're $30 and I just don't want to pay that much for something I could make for at least half the price.

Anyway, last sunday I was mentioning this to some girls in the ward (one of which was one of the girls who made that comment in the post mentioned above) and they agreed that quiet books are definitely helpful when it comes to keeping kids distracted and quiet during church. I didn't really think anything else about it and was actually planning on starting to put one together on Wed. Tues morning as Bobby's walking out the door for school he walks back in and hands me a bag and says, "this was hanging on the door." I open the bag and inside was this:



The exact quiet book I had wanted to get for Tyler! All that was with it was a note that said, To: Tyler Bricker

I have no idea who left us this gift, but I am SO excited and thankful! I asked both the girls I was speaking to on Sun. if they left it for us and both have adamantly said it was not them. Either one of them is just being humble or somebody that I don't even know (not too hard, I don't know very many people in our ward) was extremely generous! I just can't believe that somebody would do that for our family and am so thankful to a loving Heavenly Father that has literally poured out blessing upon blessing since we have moved here. Sometimes all it takes is something as simple as a children's quiet book to remind you how much Heavenly Father knows and loves you as an individual and is mindful of your needs.