Miracle on Ice

This posting is mostly for my sake and posterity as well. It is going to be long and detailed, just warning you...

I always thought that doing a good deed brought blessings, but sometimes we need to learn a lesson before the blessings come. The day before we headed out to Utah for Christmas, I was taking a gift to a lady I visit teach. I have never met her since I only visit her through letters. I thought for Christmas I might take a little something to her and at least put a face to this lady I knew nothing about except her address and birthday.

It was a very cold, snowy day and we were going to head up to Jason's parent's home so that they could take us to the airport in the morning. Of course I had waited until it was last minute to take this gift. I bundled Aliyah up in her coat, hat, and gloves and shoved her into her almost too small carseat just to drive two minutes down the road. I brushed off all the snow and scraped all the ice without any gloves since Jason had taken the car I usually drive since the roads were bad. By the time I was finished my hands had no feeling in them. I hurried off to this lady's apartment, unloaded the child, dropped off the gift without her even being there (so much for the actual reason of going), got Aliyah back in the car and drove away. As I was driving home I was finally getting feeling back into my fingers and immediately I noticed my wedding ring was missing. I didn't worry too much because I had made some cookies that morning and knew I had taken it off to roll the dough.

I rushed inside and looked in my usual place for my ring. Nothing. I started to panic, but thought that I would find it since I had only been two places. I got Aliyah bundled up again, looked around the car where I had brushed off the snow and ice, found nothing so I looked in the car, but when the ring wasn't showing I strapped Aliyah in the carseat again and drove back to the other apartment complex. I retraced all my steps, even up to her door but didn't knock. I was sure it was outside somewhere. The sun was beginning to set and I knew I had very little time to continue to look. I went back to our house and thought maybe it was in my pant pocket since I was cleaning the kitchen and bathroom and had changed out of them since then. No such luck!

Jason walked in from work and I just broke down. It wasn't so much about the ring as it was what it meant to me. I love it and Jason chose it for me all by himself. He was reassuring and let me know everything would be okay, but being himself also had to tease me about throwing it away so I could upgrade to a better ring. Thanks for that, dear! He looked outside for a little, but with the sun gone there wasn't much chance for finding it.

We headed out, had a great Christmas, and all the while I continued to think about the ring. We came back to snow and ice and I thought I wouldn't look for it until it had melted. But each day I couldn't help just checking around our parking lot to see if I could see anything. I figured it would sparkle in the sunlight and would just catch my eye. Too bad everything was covered in ice and already sparkled in the sun.

Wednesday came and I needed to head to the grocery store. When I was heading back, I was thinking about my ring and had a calming feeling that it would be found. I pulled up into the parking lot and was going to pull into a spot but had a feeling to park where I had been that day I lost the ring. I opened my door and looked down on the ground only to find my ring frozen in the ice. I immediately started chipping away at it with my fingers. Finally, my prayers and gratefully the prayers of others had been answered. It was dirty and scratched, yet adds to the stories it already has.

So, what do we learn from this...never scrape a car without gloves. Okay, really it gave me a great Christmas memory of what really matters. Our Heavenly Father is always mindful of His children and will answer our prayers, but makes sure it hurts just a little before the blessings come.