Erik's prayer

I know this blog is titled 'Stories From Katie', and most of the posts will be about my daughter.  She is creative and unashamed of who she is.  My son Erik is a little more concerned about what people think of him but every once in a while he says things that take us by surprise.  This is one of those times.

We took a family trip out to the badlands in North Dakota several years ago.  We loaded up the truck, packed the camper and took off for 2 weeks out west.

It took us 3 days to get to the campground in the badlands.  Three days of  highway driving.  Three days of billboards and exit signs.  Three days of being stuck in a booster seat.  Finally we drive north out of Dickinson and an hour later we start to see the badlands.

Driving into the campground we look out over a landscape of red, orange and gold.  Towering spires, deep canyons and flat-topped plateaus formed over millions of years.  If you have never seen it before, the views are absolutely breath taking.  To Erik's young mind it looked like we were driving straight into Dinosaur Valley.

As we approached our final destination the kids got very quiet in the back seat.  I looked back and he had his head bowed in prayer.  When he was finished I asked "Erik, what were you doing?"  "Praying" he replied.  "So what did you pray for?"  "Do you want me to pray it again?"  "Sure."  With that he quickly folded his hands, bowed his head once again and said

"Dear Jesus,  Please make the dinosaurs of the valley come to life.  And be nice to us."

I was VERY glad he added that last little bit to his prayer.  After all, we did NOT like the idea of a mean dinosaur coming to life!  I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of ANY dinosaur coming back to life.

The entire week we spent in the badlands Erik was VERY hopeful that God would fulfill his request.  He even told the people at the Dickinson Dinosaur Museum about what he was planning to do with this dinosaur he was confident we'd be bringing home.

Alas, when it was time to pack up and head home the dinosaurs had yet to reanimate their fossilized bones.  A disappointed little boy wen to say good bye to Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chuck (yes, the potato salad star) who were working in the campground for the summer.  When he was saying his good byes he made a deal with Aunt Lynn.

Seeing how upset he was by the thought of not bringing a live dinosaur home as a souvenir from the North Dakota badlands Aunt Lynn made Erik a promise.  They were staying on a few more weeks at the campground and she assured him that if the dinosaurs did come to live she would bring one back to Michigan for us.  He was a little disappointed because she said it would have to be a small one (I think he had his heart set on a triceratops.) but it would be a dinosaur all his own.

When they made it back to Michigan Aunt Lynn and Uncle Chuck had to break the bad news to Erik, the dinosaurs had yet to come back to life.  But for him all hope was not lost.  They still go back to the Little Missouri State Park in Killdeer, ND every summer.  Maybe one of these years when they make their trip back to Michigan they will have a surprise for Erik towed along behind.