A weekend of miracles

On our way out of town on Friday Russell was doing a thorough job of helping me pack and get our things in the car.  He was a little anxious to get on the road to Grandma and Grandpa Hodnett's house.  And what a little helper he is!  He even made sure to lock the front door nice and secure.  Only problem... my purse and keys were still in that secure house.  Luckily...or more, miraculously, I had my cell phone in the duffel bag that we had outside with us.  I always keep my phone in my purse.  We also had a few other essentials outside with us...camera, check.  Rylee's dog.  Good things to have if you ever plan on being locked out.

And while we're on the subject of miracles, the reason we left town in the first place was so I could meet up with some friends and family so we could attend a woman's conference.  Beside the fact that the inspirational stories shared at this conference testified of the reality of miracles happening all around us, what I'll remember most from the weekend I know was Divinely orchestrated just... for.... me.   Lots of last minute things (totally valid things! :)  ) came up in our group of girls so I was the only one able to attend on Saturday.  I went by myself.  Not too big of a deal...driving in downtown Sacramento and finding parking was much more of a concern for me than being all alone.  But when we broke for lunch and I watched groups and families of women filing out of the building laughing and having fun all together, I was a little sad to be by myself.  I hadn't really thought through the whole lunch thing, so I started wandering the conference center to see how I'd pass my lonely hour and a half.  :)  It really wasn't THAT bad, but that makes this little tender mercy so much more tender to me.  I had just hung up my phone after checking in with the kids when a group of ladies stopped in front of me.  You know when you see people you haven't seen in a long time and you see them unexpectedly and it takes a while for the reality of it to connect?  It took me a while...but when it finally connected I was so thrilled to see standing in front of me a dear friend all the way from Tennessee, and her dear Mom from our ward in San Luis Obispo, and her other dear daughters.  Two of them I hadn't met before but they'll forever be dear to me now.  :)  They invited me to join their family for lunch.  Thank you.  Thank you.

And the greatest, littlest (BIG....10 lbs 9.2 oz...sista, we're giving you the .2...you earned every bit of it!) miracle of all that I got to see this weekend, was baby girl, Avery Edith Arnold.  Marissa and Brian, she is soooo, so beautiful!