Catherine and the lost girl

So I really enjoyed conference this year.  The basement is a great place to contain the family...we stayed down and watched 3 of the 4 sessions together.  Not that the kids were were all totally focused through all of it or anything (I probably even slept through a couple talks ;), but it was fairly quiet and I loved having the family all around.  One thing that stood out to me was the message that something we can do every day to put ourselves in a position to serve and feel promptings is to pray each day for an opportunity.  Too simple, right?

Well I did just that the next week, and not more than 3 hours after my morning prayer as I am riding bikes to take Rin and Thomas to school, I see this- has to be under 3yr old- little girl wandering alone in a grassy patch near an intersection.  I know, seems cliche- want to help someone and up pops a lost girl you can bring home...but maybe I needed something obvious. Anyhow, I kind of slowed to assess if she was with someone...looked around.  I ask where her mom is and she babbles something and points to a playground (that she was apparantly heading for) that is across the street and past a marshy area.  Hmmm.  After some wandering and Carrie trying to remember how 2 yr olds communicate, we did locate her home about a block down the road and returned her to a mother that hadn't even realized she had slipped out yet.  Well, Catherine was none too happy about knowing she would be tardy for school because of our diversion, but we talked as we headed toward school about trying to see what was most important in a situation, etc.  She was still upset with me when I dropped her off for class (mostly because it is uncomfortable to walk into class late I think).

Anyhow, after school she had on her bright happy face again and we headed for home.  After a few blocks we saw we were coming up on a dad riding bikes with his 2 kids.  The youngest however, was still on training wheels and so was quite slow.  We were just considering how to pass them when the little girl hit a bump and crashed.  Tears from her, consoling from dad.  We got off our bikes to walk around them and and were just about past when Catherine put down her kickstand and turned toward the girl. Without thinking, I just about said, 'come on Catherine!  What are you doing? We need to get home', but stopped myself as I saw Catherine lean down and pick up the girls headband that she noticed had fallen off in the crash.  She handed it to the girl and we were on our way.  Maybe she had been thinking of that mornings experience.  Just made me smile, because we all want our kids to have those little experiences where they feel empathy for another and take the initiative to act on it.