I am so behind. And this is going to be a long post so bear with me. On March 30th we took a group of our Young Women to Salt Lake for the General Broadcast. We walked around Temple Square and did some shopping and ate. It was so fun. And the broadcast was great of course.
(For my own sake so that I don't forget from left to right is Mercedes Staley, Sister Tomlinson, Kaela Mecham, me, Whitney Laing, Megan Stephenson, Courtnee Barbierie, Taylor Barbierie, Sister Newman, and kneeling is Makayla Squires)
This is the third year I've gotten to go on this trip with the young women, the first year as an actual leader. Mark and I have always looked forward to the tiny break. This year we almost didn't get to go together though. The night before Jonas came down with a fever. I hoped it was a fluke but he woke up and was hot the morning we were supposed to leave too. I was beside myself and had no idea what to do because he had zero other symptoms. I talked to my sisters, Becky and Miss, who were going to be taking our kids for the day and long story short, they decided that since he had no other symptoms I should still go with Mark and they would just take care of him for me. It was the hardest thing to leave him! But before we left his medicine kicked in and he didn't have a fever, he ate two pancakes for breakfast and was acting totally normal.
So throughout the day I was checking with my sisters and the poor guy got really lethargic and wasn't being himself after all. I felt bad because it was a done deal and I couldn't really come back but they took such good care of him. And Weston and Saydi had the GREATEST time with their aunties and cousins! They sent me some pictures while we were away that I absolutely must share. First they had a blast at Aunt Miss' jumping on the trampoline.
It looks worse than it is. =)
I had no idea this kid had such mad skills but he is Mr. Unafraid when it comes to trying new things. Apparently we need a trampoline of our own.
Then Aunt Bea came to our house with her boys and Maylee and she let the kids make their own pizzas.
They were so proud and snarfed them down since they had made them themselves. Maybe I need to have them make dinner every night so they will eat it!
This girl and her faces. Cracks me right up.
Then Aunt Bea helped them plant jelly beans that grew into suckers over night. They were thrilled!
Words can not express the gratitude I felt for my sisters this day. I needed to be where I was and my sisters didn't just make that happen, they took care of my kids as good (or better, more likely) than I would have. They made such great memories for my kids and that is so important to me. I was so appreciative.
On the way home from Utah Miss called to tell me that my dad was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He had passed out after going to bed and my mom and Becky couldn't get him to wake up. I was so worried but again, there was nothing I could do so I just waited and waited for more information. It was a long night. What ended up happening was that my dad wasn't using his oxygen machine at night for his sleep apnea. His low oxygen levels mixed with the medicines he was taking made his blood acidic. He told Becky later that he felt himself slipping away and all he could do was hope that my mom and Becky would find him but he was worried he was going to die there in his bed.
I was so overwhelmed by this whole ordeal. My dad has had health problems since he was six weeks old and he has fought a good fight but I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I was relieved that it was something that could be fixed. Mark and I were supposed to speak on the Resurrection the next day in church and it really got me thinking about what I really believe. If I had to say goodbye to my dad the night before, could I really go to church and share with people that we would all get to live again? Did I really believe that? Ultimately I discovered that with all my heart, yes, I do believe that. I would have been devastated to say goodbye to my dad for the rest of my earthly life, but it would have just been "see ya later" not really "goodbye". I'm grateful for that knowledge.
It was a whirlwind of a day and I was so emotionally drained from worrying about Jonas all day and then my dad all night that I had to have a mental health day on Monday but we made it! It was a great weekend and I made great memories. Both with the people I was with and with the people who were with my children.
No comments:
Post a Comment