We're Alive . . .

And well . . . and busy . . . and tired . . . and blessed . . . and tried . . . and happy.

I feel like we have taken on too much for our little family over the last little while, but I'm excited to say that we are slowing down.

First, I am finishing my job with Cinemark at the end of this month /beginning of next month. July 2nd will be my last day and I feel sad and happy at the same time about this change. The people here have treated me well and with kindness. They have accommodated me on so many levels and I will miss my associates and friends. However, I do feel that it is time. It has not been easy on my family nor myself to work as much as I have, and I absolutely know that it has affected my mothering. I'm a much better mother with rest and sleep. I have faith that Heavenly Father will bless us for doing what we know to be true and right. I have faith that He will provide a way that we can accomplish our financial goals / needs.

We just returned from the trek at the LBJ Grasslands. What an experience! It was much more difficult than the one I did as a youth--at least from what I remember. The heat index registerred 102 degrees in the shade on Thursday. So you can imagine how hot it felt in thick socks and hiking boots, long sleeved shirts, and long skirts/pants. But . . . we had a great experience.

The kids we trekked with were AMAZING! Their attitudes were so positive and they each worked so hard. I really enjoyed our family. They were wonderful! None of them complained and each helped out. Also, the preparation by the stake really made the entire trek a success! We had such a good staff and are grateful to have worked with them!

The second day of the trek proved to be quite difficult. Quite a few of the kids and leaders became severely dehydrated and dropped out. Some were taken to the hospital, while others received medical attention at the medic tent. No one was seriously injured and those who went to the hospital came back fine. However, this was a great concern.

We were divided into companies with a member of the stake presidency as the head of our company. At one point during the day, things seemed to feel somewhat hopeless. We still had a long ways to go and everyone felt depleted of energy and strength. The company ahead of us prayed together that things would get better, that some clouds might cover the sun to offer us relief, that we might return safely to our campsite for the night. Our company heard of this prayer, and the stake president decided we too needed a prayer. (It's important to note that prior to our leaving the stake president spoke to us and he said that "we would be protected from the rain and the storms, and that we would return safely home.") He offered a similar prayer to the other company, and we headed out again. It wasn't 20 minutes later that we reached the trading post.

As we were eating our watermelon and oranges, we looked up. Over our heads, it was as if a giant blanket of dark black and blue clouds were covering the sky. Ryan commented about Zion's Camp. We immediately felt relief from the heat of the blazing sun. We headed out for our final embarkation to our campsite. At one point, we looked up and it was the coolest and strangest thing I have ever seen with clouds. The clouds above were divided into three sections and it was as if they were zigzagging into each other and moving forward very rapidly. I commented to a family member about the sky, and a medic behind me immediately told me not to say another word about the clouds, that we would be fine. I didn't really understand until later.

One of the members of our ward went to the hospital that night due to dehydration. While he was being hydrated, he flipped on the local news. Apparently, the clouds we saw were a special part of a storm of tornadoes. What happens is the clouds suck up all of the moisture and water really fast and then send the water back down as hail. Tornadoes spin off of these clouds. The weather reporter said that they have no idea why but for some unexplainable reason the tornadoes started spinning off of these clouds and going all over the place and then, they came to the part of the LBJ grasslands, where we were, and they divided and literally went around our path. We were completely unharmed. We felt a few drops of rain, literally--that was it. I absolutely know it was because of the prayers and faith behind those prayers that were offered.

We saw Heavenly Father's hand in so many things over these past few days. It was such a wonderful, wonderful experience! We're grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this.

(pictures to come)