Fear or Faith

Got an email recently from my sister, who is trying to get her daughter and her daughter's family--husband and 2 children--over to the States from their home in Great Britain. Their youngest son is 3 and needs to be in a special school here for his autism, which isn't available in GB. I'll let her tell the latest hurdle (overcome) in her own words:
I have been literally sick with worry about them flying over here. It would have cost them 800 pounds to fly their dog, Tati, (whom Toby is very attached to) in cargo, and she read so much about dogs dying in cargo transport. So she found out that if she got Tati listed as an autism dog, they could take her for free with them in the plane. So she managed to do that with letters from Toby's psychologist but our HUGE worry was how Tati, who has never been on a plane or in an airport, would handle it. The airlines have the right to reject her at any time for any reason, in which case they are stuck at the airport with a dog they have nowhere to leave.  I just got a 2 line text from them saying Tati has been perfect, that they cleared her in the UK fine and already have partial clearance at arrival for her. Most of all, when they boarded the plane, they found out their air hostess has an autistic daughter with an autism dog. She was major supportive. Imagine that.

This is just the latest in a series of miracles that have paved the way for their transition to the States. I chided my sister for her worrying; by now we all know that God is Good, He is there for us, He hears and answers our prayers. It is all in His hands. I can't imagine the synchronized steps that had to happen to get that sympathetic stewardess on that flight at that time...

For a Wise Purpose

Just got an email from my sister with this accompanying map. It reminded me of the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation that Martin Harris got from Joseph Smith. God knew hundreds of years before that incident that He needed to prepare a second set of plates to replace the 116 pages that would be lost, so he had Nephi make the Small Plates of Nephi (see 1 Nephi 9:3-6), then he inspired Mormon to include those plates with his abridgment. (see Words of Mormon1-6-7). I don't know when these school district boundaries were made, or what the initial reasoning was to create this little "bump" that goes into Cortland County, but they have certainly served the greater purpose of allowing our Toby to attend a school that will be beneficial to him. I'm glad someone followed the prompting they must have gotten to do it!

Finding a Rachel in a haystack

The crowd at pageant--a sea of bodies

Picture this FULL of people,
Rich at the right where the stage begins
and Rachel straight back, in the middle
 of the field this side of the road.

Saw this article on the Hill Cumorah Pageant and it had some cool photos, which I downloaded to illustrate the miracle that took place almost 28 years ago now. We were at Pageant with our three (at the time) kids and my mom. Three adults + three kids: easy, right? Each of us thought one of the other of us had Rachel, only a toddler at the time, but, you guessed it, no one had her. I ran like a chicken with her head cut off wildly looking and calling. Rich went directly to the front of the crowd, where the stage began, which had a slight elevation, said a prayer, then looked out over the crowd (it was dusk and the people were milling about everywhere). His eyes immediately zoomed in on her tiny figure at the outskirts of the seating area, all alone. He raced back to her, scooped her up in his arms and wiped away the small tear sliding down her cheek. What a blessing to have found her so quickly (or at all!) in that mass of humanity! We will never forget.