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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Family Prayer and Doug the Dog

Years ago, when we lived in Boise and most of the kids were home, a Black Lab found us, adopted us and stayed with us for a few days.  He was a wonderful dog and we named him, "Doug".  Since we didn't know who his owners were, we treated him as though he was our dog until the rightful owners could be found.  It was Christmas time and my son, Dan, flew home from Utah.  I went to the airport to pick him up and allowed Doug to accompany me in the van.   Imagine Dan's surprise when he opened the sliding door of the 12-passenger-van to find a big dog waiting to greet him!

That night we knelt for family prayer.  It was my turn to pray and the kids knew they might as well get comfortable because my prayers last more than 30 seconds!  Doug sidled next to me and sat, looking at everyone.  The prayer was going well.  Christmas is a season to be thankful, especially when your kids come home, so I was expressing my gratitude when I heard a loud sigh and felt Doug slump to the floor as though he was exhausted.  Needless to say, the prayer ended abruptly because we were all laughing. 


(google image)
Since that night, the kids have learned how to display their feelings if they feel the prayer is going too long.  It's not as funny when they do it.

20 comments:

Kristina P. said...

I bet they still get a good chuckle or two!

Julie Harward said...

That is funny and he is a handsome Doug too! I wish I'd have tried that trick as a kid, my dad's prayers were long..or so I thought at the time. I didn't know that about the Kool-Aid pie...that is really neat! ;D

Kelly said...

I love dogs! That is a funny story.

gigi said...

How funny! We would always say, oh please don't let mama pray!! She always went on forever! I've turned into my mother because my kids now say the same thing :) I think mothers just have so much more to pray about.

Natalie said...

I love labs. Our son used to raise labs and then used the money to help with his mission.

Tracy said...

We'll have to try that trick in our family, as Matt's prayers are the long ones around here.

Cute and funny story. Once again, thanks for the smile.

Anonymous said...

What a gentle-looking soul Doug is! It reminds me of the year we read the Bible all the way through, one chapter a night. Before too long, all three kids and the dog would hit the deck. They do remember it fondly, though.

Doran & Jody said...

LOL!!

I remember prayers when the kids were puppies and it was dads turn. Someone would start to giggle and then the rest of us (girl species) would start and pretty soon dad would get up and go in the other room to have his own prayers.

We didn't mean to giggle.

Yvonne said...

What a great story.

I remember the days when the kids were younger and it was always the same when Allan and I prayed ; )

Barbaloot said...

If only we had had a dog growing up to let my mom know how we felt about her prayers:) Somehow---it was always her turn to pray on Christmas morning and she took SO long!!

Valerie said...

Our little dog always joins in on family prayer too! Only instead of sighing, she scoots over and starts licking our face when we pray too long. When she does this, we (my hubby and I) usually end the prayer with, "And please bless that we won't kill the dog tonight..."
(Okay, that's a slight exaggeration... kind of!) :)

Kerin said...

Cute story!
I love dogs!
They sure do have their own personalities :)
Our Rowdy knows that it's time for morning prayers before Dad leaves for work, and jumps up on the bed and lays his head down. So reverent.
One night for family prayer, our son was asked to say it. He said the whole thing in Spanish. I'm pretty sure it was a good prayer... and I think I heard 'bless Mom and Dad' in there :)

Kazzy said...

I think you'd be a great dog owner. Really.

Anonymous said...

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God Bless You ~Ron

Valerie said...

I hate when my kids start laughing during the prayer and it makes me want to laugh and I have to hold it back and it's so hard, but I don't want to be irreverent. But, yeah, most of the time it isn't cute.

TisforTonya said...

hahaha - my kids would LOVE it if we had a dog... currently the kids just resort to telling us how long the prayer is by putting it into one of three categories:

Payson prayers - where ManOfTheHouse grew up... a nice spiritual family with lengthy prayers apparently.
Colorado prayers - my family... short and sweet.
and St George prayers - we've compromised on prayer length I guess :)

TisforTonya said...

and try as I might the "follow" thing is giving me fits tonight - but I'll be back to try again :)

Toyin O. said...

That is a funny story; cute dog.

http://youcanfacetodaybecausehelives.blogspot.com

Jenny said...

Very cute memory!

cindy-stitches-n-stuff.blogspot.com said...

Oh, that is such a sweet story. Did you ever find Dougs family?

I love family prayers.

big hugs
cindy-stitches-n-stuff.blogspot.com