Sunday, July 5, 2009

A Blessing Amidst Chaos


When you're leaving home for a month you plan. You plan what you'll pack and what you'll do. You plan for who'll fill in for you while you're gone. You plan to not receive your mail, newspaper and bills. You return library books and make arrangements for pets. You clean your house and clean out the fridge. What you don't plan for is losing your wallet just hours before leaving town.

The day we were leaving we had just a few things left to do: swim lessons in the morning followed by a stop at the library, then a little cleaning. It appeared we were on schedule to leave as planned that afternoon. I never would have guessed how opening my car door for Emme to drop our books in the return slot at the library would throw my afternoon into chaos. When the door was opened, my wallet was kicked out and left behind. It wasn't until hours later after a second visit to the pool and library, the canceling of all my cards, ordering of an express driver's licence, and the saying of a family prayer that the library called.

In a large family, leaving town is always a bit chaotic and you're nearly always behind schedule, but that afternoon proved to be even more so than anticipated. As we pulled up to my mom's house the next morning as the sun rose over the mountains, we new that the time spent on the loss and recovery of the wallet was not a waste. Our kids learned a valuable lessons that day. They learned that Heavenly Father answers prayers. They would also soon learn another valuable lesson, the reason for cleaning out the fridge before leaving town.

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