Home Sweet Home!

After traveling 7978 miles in the last month I am finally home!

At the beginning of the month the kids pitched in and flew Joe & I out to Vegas for my birthday. It was a wonderful trip as I got to spend time with our kids and grandkids as well as some of my extended family. It was so fun to see Avery & Kaeden. They are growing fast and have such fun personalities! I got to spend my birthday with my daughters & their families, my mom & dad, two of my sisters, my brother & his family, Joe's sister Carol, as well as some of my nieces & nephews. Ryan (my nephew) got married the weekend we were there as well so we got to attend the celebration. It was so nice to be at a wedding that was NOT one of my kids!

I was home from Vegas for 3 days before heading up to Alaska to help Amanda move from Juneau to Denver. On the way to the airport Joe & I were in an accident which was a very "exciting" way to start the journey. Thankfully neither one of us were seriously injured which was the first of several miracles on this journey. The truck however did not fair as well and has been deemed totaled by the insurance company. Despite the accident and thanks to Brian's quick arrival I actually made my fliglht to Juneau on time.
The morning I left for Juneau I had expressed some concerns about the trip to Joe, upon arriving in Juneau Amanda mentioned that she was feeling some unease regarding our planned route. We decided to pray and both felt we needed to change our route and go a different direction. We called Joe and discussed it with him and then we called and changed our ferry tickets not knowing that this would be the first of three changes. We both felt at peace that we could now make the journey safely.
Amanda's car had broken down a couple of days before I arrived and since it is a Volkswagon they had to have the part shipped in to repair it. After two days of waiting and several promises by the auto parts store in Anchorage to deliver the part via express plane it still had not arrived. We were running out of time to make it to Denver on schedule. Miracle #2. After some very sincere prayers we got a call from the repair shop that despite being assured that the part had not arrived on the morning plane, the airport was now calling to let them know that a package had been found in the terminal addressed to them. It was her part and we were told we could pick up the car at 10:30am. At 3:30 we boarded the ferry and said good-bye to Juneau. Alaska is a rugged and beautiful area. It was in many ways awe inspiring and I wish I had had more time to explore.

After 2.5 days on the ferry we arrived in Canada and began the 1789 mile drive to El Dorado Hills. I learned what it meant to pray unceasingly as we encountered bad weather, and treacherous mountian passes on unfamiliar roads in a foreign country. The scenery was breath taking at times and so was the drive! I admit to being grateful when we crossed the border back into the United States and felt a sense of peace at being "home". It took us 2.5 days to make the drive and we were in El Dorado Hills less than 24 hours before we headed back out on the road to get to Denver. This time around we had Joe & Kaitlin with us. After another 2 days of driving we arrived in Denver at midnight, unloaded Amanda's belongings and were back on the road by 1:30am to head home as Joe had to be at work Saturday night at 7pm. After 10 days, 6778 miles, 4189 of which were by car I am grateful to be sleeping in my own bed again!

I am grateful for the safety of our journey but most of all for the presence of our Heavenly Father with us. I know Joe & I were protected during the accident. I know that Heavenly Father produced the part for Amanda's car. I know that He watched over Amanda and I as we drove alone through Canada and the northern states, and I know how much I value the priesthood in my life. I have come to take it for granted as I have Joe, Brian & Greg in the house but I realized on this trip how much it means to me to have the priesthood constantly available. Part of the reason Amanda & I both felt uneasy was that we are used to having constant access to priesthood protection. We knew we would be without that for several days and it concerned us. We learned that while we did not have immediate access to the priesthood we did have immediate access to Heavenly Father. He accompanied us throughout the journey and reassured us that even though we thought we were alone we in fact were not.

Gotta love nature . . NOT!

Today I was leaving to take Kelly to work and noticed a guy on a bike at the end of my driveway. As I pulled out he was waving and pointing behind me. I thought maybe there was a small dog or a toy in the street so I rolled down my window to see what he was worried about - no dog, no toy, just a 3-4 foot rattlesnake!!!! It was heading right for the driveway. I called Katie in the house and told her not to let Tyler, Kevin or the dogs outside. I stopped at our neighbors house and asked him if he could take care of it since Joe, Brian and Greg were all gone. Being the wonderful guy that he is, he and his wife headed straight for the house to solve the problem. After a little snake wrangling Renee pinned it down while Vearl beheaded it. Thank heavens for great neighbors!! The guy on the bike did suggest that I just run over it and kill it but I couldn't do it. I don't know if that would have killed it or not but it would have bothered me too much. I feel bad enough having asked Vearl to do it but there are so many little kids in the neighborhood as well as dogs it had to go. :(