Lost and Found

Today is Sunday and we have been in San Bernardino for 1 week now. The beginning of the week looked pretty grim. Yes, there is so much to do, but when you don't know an area and the people, you can feel like a lost sheep. Dan has been searching for housing, but most of the housing he has looked at requires 3-6 month leases. We are not sure how long we will be here, so his Supervisor has told all the instructors not to sign any leases. Due to these unfortunate circumstances...we are confined to a two-bedroom hotel (most likely the duration of our time here). So mixed with a hotel room, restless kids, feeling fat, and not knowing anyone... you could say that tears were inevitable! Yes, I had a "I'm feeling sorry for myself day". I had a good cry, but felt so LOST.

However, today I feel that the Heavens opened and we were FOUND! It is amazing how Heavenly Father places certain people in your path who you are immediately connected to. This has happened to me in Deming, and I know these friends are forever! Today we attended a baby blessing of a new friend (who I believe was placed in my path).

About 1 month ago, my mom called me and told me about her visiting teacher. She said Carol and her husband have been in Firth about 1 year now. Carol and my mom had been visiting 1 day and discovered quickly that Carol was going to be visiting her daughter in San Bernardino! My mom's jaw dropped because she had just learned that we were headed that direction. My mom gave me the daughter's name (Shalen Hatfield) and a little about where they lived etc...I tried to make contact with her, but was unsuccessful. We finally spoke and I was immediately calmed by her voice. After arriving, I did not contact her for a few days, but felt the prompting to call her. When I did, she was so responsive and we decided to meet at the hotel and go to a park. When I saw her, she hugged me immediately and again I felt her kindness and warmth. I also got to meet her mom! She has two boys (9yr & 6yr) and two girls (3yr & 4months). How crazy that our kids are so close in age. Of course they hit it off and knew how to get along!

So today, we attended church and we were invited to the luncheon. I again felt an immediate outpouring of love from all of her family and friends. To top off the day, we met a family who knew my brother Sean! They live in Ventura and they got to know him quite well during his mission. They went on and on about what an amazing man he is! I agreed with every word and was wishing he was here!

On our way out of the luncheon, Dan spotted a blanket identical to Berlyn's favorite (can't live without) blanket. A few days ago on our initial meeting with the Hatfield's, we LOST Berlyn's blanket somewhere between the park & pizza place. I was sad after searching both places and knowing it was gone forever. However, today we were in luck. So as Dan pointed to the baby with the identical blanket, we just looked at each other with a longing for the blanket. We gathered up the boys and tried to distract Berlyn from seeing it...but her eyes were immediately drawn to the "new" identical blanket. She didn't say anything but pointed to the blanket and kept looking at Dan and I with wide but sad eye's. The mother of the baby noticed Berlyn looking at the blanket, so we told her the story of how she lost her favorite blanket only a few days ago. Before I could finish asking her where she got her blanket (since Berlyn's was a baby gift), she handed her daughter's blanket to Berlyn and said "here you go, sweetheart." Berlyn was in heaven and I couldn't believe another small blessing was being given to us! Come to find out, the mother of the baby had just recently LOST her daughter's favorite purple blanket and tried to replace it with the one she had just given us. She just couldn't bare watching Berlyn in agony, knowing she was going through the same thing.

I really believe we were LOST this week, but were FOUND today!