In His Hands

Warning:   If sap (my editor/critic said I should explain this means “gooey emotion,” which is an occasional side effect of living with someone who is fighting cancer) makes you uncomfortable, I advise you to turn your computer off and walk away. 

I LOVE this picture!  When I turned on the computer this morning it popped up on the screen as my screensaver and I cried!  The picture speaks for itself.  It totally encompasses the way I feel right now.  I know that Kevin and our family are in the hands of the Lord.  And I know that the Savior loves our family and is completely aware of what we are going through.  

But this isn’t the only reason I LOVE this picture.  I love it because I didn’t know we had it!  Last December our computer’s external storage device went on overload and the years and years of photos, movies, and music, in a blink were gone!  I must admit, I thought it was tragic.  Actually, I still think losing all of my photos would be tragic because if I’m relying on just storing all of those memories in my brain, when I lose my keys or call my kids the wrong names, I think it would be totally debatable that my brain is not the best storage device.   Long story made short: most of our media was recovered after just a few months (4!) and just a few dollars (a lot more than 4).  Just this week we got our new storage device up and running and I’m really looking forward to organizing the 10,895 photos.  I’m not complaining.  I’m grateful to have every single one of them.  Especially this one. 

The other reason I LOVE this picture is because of what a great memory it brings back.  The weekend before Christmas, our family drove to the Los Angeles temple to see the Christmas lights and to spend the night in the apartments right there on the L.A. Mormon temple property.  Imagine 4 concrete walls, no tv, no phone, no nothin’  Throw in a torrential rain storm and we had the perfect environment for some family bonding time playing games until late. The next morning, Kevin, Josh, and Sophie woke up early and went to the temple to perform baptisms.  There they met J-bird.  J-bird and Kevin bonded instantly.  Not only did Kevin fall in love with J-bird’s amazing conversion story, but how often when you meet someone can you say, “Nice to meet you J-bird, I’m K-dog.”  (By the way, one of Kevin’s nicknames for Josh has always been J-bird)  Later that morning when we were visiting the temple Visitor’s Center (amazing!  all new exhibits) we heard J-bird’s voice!  Sure enough, there was J-bird sharing his testimony in one of the new videos. . we call him a local Mormon celebrity.  So, with memories of games, and rain, and J-bird, we snapped this family photo in front of the large Christus statue.  And like I said, the picture speaks for itself.

By the way, Kevin is doing great this week - tired, but not puking.  He’s spent a couple of days working at the hospital, and a couple of evenings working on a pinewood derby car (with Ben of course).  He wants me to display some pictures from our Spring Break trip to Utah. . .once I locate them in the 10,895 photos, I’ll do it!!  As always, thank you for your prayers.  They are felt.