My Conference Miracle

Normally when conference rolls around, the number one piece of advice on how to get the most out of conference is usually: Have a question in mind as you listen to conference. But, every year I have the same dilemma. Coming up with a question is a difficult task. It's not that I have a perfect understanding of gospel topics or that I don't have a desire to learn and grow spiritually. The issue is that I just don't know what I don't know--and so I usually take a more relaxed approach to gospel learning and wait for it to come to me, instead of getting out there and looking for what I still need to learn.

This conference, however, I was determined to have at least one question in mind as I listened. And, after praying and thinking during the week before, I finally came up with a couple of things I felt I needed some guidance on. I sat down Saturday morning ready to soak up gospel learning for the next 2 hours. Well, it turns out that having 2 kids running around playing and trying to talk to you every 2 minutes isn't really conducive to listening to conference. Needless to say, I didn't get much out of it. I enjoyed the parts I actually heard, but nothing really connected with me. My girls took their naps perfectly between sessions...and woke up just in time for the afternoon session to go just like the morning.

This morning, I woke up, feeling slightly perturbed that I hadn't really ingested much of the gospel feast yesterday and felt a renewed hope and determination that today's sessions would be better. After all, kids are more subdued on Sunday, right? As the morning session started, I remembered this wasn't true--at least in our home--even on Conference Sunday. Kallie and Whitney were as busy as ever. And, Kallie was certainly disappointed that she didn't get to go to nursery on Church Day to play with the backpack, the glasses, and the house keys. (However, during President Monson's closing talk in that session, Kallie did say that she wanted to "take her testimony.")

My visions of an uplifting and edifying conference were dissipating as I put the girls down, once again, to nap between sessions. A few minutes later, Kallie started crying...and she wouldn't stop. Staying up until 11 p.m. the night before didn't agree with her and she was so tired that she just couldn't sleep. At this point, I was sure that the rest of my day was ruined. No conference answers for me--especially if Kallie wouldn't sleep. After spending almost all of the between-conference hours trying to convince Kallie to take a nap, she FINALLY fell asleep just after the opening prayer of the afternoon session. That's the first part of the miracle.

I realize that an over-tired, crying-for-hours, 2-year old isn't often seen as a manifestation of God's love. But, today, that's what it was for me. Because she wouldn't sleep earlier, she slept through the entire session. I was able to pay attention and internalize the things that were said in that last session of conference. It was during that session that every question I had come up with during the previous week was answered. That's the second part of the miracle. While I don't wish an exhausted young child on anyone, I'm really grateful that we kept her up late last night so I could have 2 hours of peace to hear exactly what I needed to hear today. What a miracle.