A Wonderful Week in Baltimore

On Wednesday night, Feb. 8th, I had just closed up the pharmacy with Joe when I got a phone message from Dalynn. "Could (I) please come to Baltimore?" Daniel was in the hospital and Dalynn wondered if I could come help with the girls. Could I come? Of course, I could come. I spoke to Joe right then and there and it was arranged. I would take a week off and head to Baltimore. I called Luke and he kindly arranged the flights. I just happened to have one leg of the flight already on hand so on Thursday morning I flew to Denver and then got a Southwest flight to Baltimore. Dalynn picked me up and we headed straight to the hospital. It was good to see Daniel for a few minutes and then we went on to their home.

Talk about a fun week... Mika, Ember and little Maren kept me entertained the whole time. We had tea parties,

went to McDonalds in Reisterstown, did a little shopping and found some pretty fairies, went to visit Papa and went out to dinner with Mama at Apple Bees.

One experience I have to write about happened the day before I was to return home. Dalynn had come home to take us all in to see Daniel and then we went to a McDonalds close by; pretty much "downtown Baltimore". It was clean and friendly but maybe not in the best location. Anyway, we got our lunches and I had my little black zipper bag so I paid. We ate and talked and then cleared our table and left. When we got home I was getting ready to purchase a shuttle ticket from the SL airport to IF so I went to get my card out of my bag and couldn't find it anywhere. I told Dalynn and the girls and we all searched the house! No bag! We knew I had had it at McDonalds so Dalynn looked up the resturant phone number and called to see if they had found it after we left. Nope, no bag. Oh my goodness!! My life was pretty much in there. All my cards, my temple recommend, my license (ID) that I would need to even board a plane to get home, my car key, cash for the trip. You name it and it was probably in my black bag. And now, no bag! My heart dropped! How was I going to get home?? How would I replace all that I had lost.

Dalynn asked the girls to come kneel down with us for prayer. Mika offered to say the prayer and it was the sweetest one I'd heard. She simply asked Heavenly Father to help us find "Granma's purse so I would be happy". Then Dalynn said we should just get in the car and go back to see if it was there since she wasn't sure she had called the right McDonalds. I was so pleased that she would do that. It was another hour ride there and then home again, but she suggested it so we went. I was a bundle of nerves hoping beyond hope that it was there but pretty much knowing it wouldn't be and worried sick about how I would "fix this one". It would be so easy for someone to just pick it up and walk out. There were plenty of reasons to do so if they had looked inside. I was almost beside my self with fear.

When we got there, Dalynn and I went inside and up to the counter. I said to one of the ladies, "We were here for lunch a bit ago and I wonder if you found a little black bag I might have left?" Before I had even finished speaking I could see a spark of something in her eye and in a flash I realized that she knew what I was talking about. I felt like I was passing out for a second. I can't explain the feeling I had when I thought she might even know what I was talking about. She was excited as she said, "Oh, it's yours." "Yes, we have it." "We tried to get ahold of you, but....." There it was, my little black zipper bag, right in her hands and she was giving it to me. It really was like someone was giving me my life back. My first thought was "Now I can go home." What a relief! What a miracle.

Through the whole thing Dalynn had been an island of peace and reassurance. She said she really did think that we would find it after all. Wow!

When we got back into the car, I looked at Mika and told her that she could always remember how Heavenly Father answered her prayer and helped us find my bag. What a wonderful blessing for all of us! Thank you Dalynn for your faith and support. Thank you Mika for your sweet prayer. Thank you Ember and Maren for your patience.

After that, I was able to schedule a shuttle ride home and Luke helped me list for flights home. The flights into SL were full all day Thursday the 16th, probably because it was the weekend before Presidents Day and people were heading west to go skiing over the three day weekend. I got out of BWI and into DEN but had to fly into Phoenix and stay the night there before flying into Salt Lake the next day. Dan picked me up at the IF airport on Friday morning and it was good to see him again. I had missed him for a little over a week. But, I sure had fun for a week in Baltimore and will never forget the miracle of Sweet Mika's prayer.