On Wednesday morning in northwest Mandan, 150 schoolchildren were talking to God.

"Our Father who art in Heaven."

They prayed.

"Hallowed be thy name."

The children, kneeling in pews, kept praying - same prayers, over and over, on this last day of school before the Christmas holiday.

Saying the rosary - repeating over and over the same prayers, the "Our Fathers" and "Hail Marys" - hadn't been the original plan for 10:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Plan A had been for Christ the King School's 150 students - the entire school - to go on a wintry two-block walk to the house of Peggy Schaaf, their music and French language teacher, who can't be at school right now. They were then going to surprise her with Christmas carols.

But Schaaf, fighting cancer for a second time, had unexpected complications.

So, even before the students started walking, the school was notified that Schaaf had left home for medical help. There would be no singing this day.

The students were left with prayers.

And their thoughts.

"I know she'll make it through," said Alicia Zook, 12, a seventh-grader, who has been taught by Schaaf for seven years. " She'll be able to survive." But Alicia said she has at times cried about it at night, after going to bed.

Cassie Hatzenbuler, 12, another seventh-grader, said she has done the same thing.

Cassie said Schaaf is great because she always greets students right away and is "awesome to be around." She's creative and jolly, wears funny necklaces, like her crazy drum necklace, and is always cheerful, regardless.

If a student is having a bad day, "She's always there for you even if she's having a bad day," Alicia said.

Schaaf, a winner of a Fulbright Memorial scholarship, went in November, with her doctor's OK, to Japan with other educators for a three-week trip. She then came back to teach. "Every kid gave her a hug," remembers Cheryl Wolf, the school's Title 1 teacher.

She taught for two days and then had too much pain from what turned out to be a fractured hip. She hasn't been back since Dec. 8. Complications.

But she needs to return soon.

Her students need a hug.