Year of Miracles #40

Last week while in Denver we had a rough patch the first night. Thinking back now it seems comical, but it was stressful at the time. Let me set the stage for you:

My brother (Jeff) and his family are the proud owners of very playful 1 yr. old dog; a golden retriever named Daisy. Daisy has not been well trained. In fact, she has a bad habit of running away and getting lost. My brother had purchased a special collar/electrical fence system that helped keep Daisy contained in the back yard, but the collar was chewed off and the fence was disarmed with the accidental fierceness of the weed-whacker. So, at the time of our visit Daisy was typically incarcerated in the house except for brief leash-regulated stints in the back yard or on walks.

The morning of the day we arrived in Denver, Daisy had escaped her leash and my sweet SIL (Alicia) had spent 45 minutes finding the runaway and bringing her home.

Then we arrived on the scene. And at one point in the evening my parents and I were on the main floor of the house while Jeff and Alicia and other juveniles were in the basement and elsewhere. Daisy scratched on the back door to be let out. Unawares of the broken fence/chewed collar situation, my mother let Daisy out in the back yard to relieve herself. And off she went.

As soon as the proud puppy owners were aware of Daisy's escape they were off hunting for her. Frustration started to grow as it was dinner time and everyone was hungry. Jeff stayed behind to start the dinner (steaks on the grill) while my mom and I assisted in other kitchen duties.

About a half an hour later Alicia came in the garage door with Daisy! The scoundrel had been caught. But at the same moment they came in the front of the house, my brother came in from his back porch BBQ grilling duties and left the sliding door partially open.

Can you guess what that darn dog did? Yep. She ran straight through the house and was gone again in the blink of an eye!

My brother swore as Daisy disappeared into the dark back yard and then took off after her.

My sister-in-law took off after him, worried he would slip and fall on the ice because he was so angry.

My dad, whose knees are nearing operation replacement, went hobbling after them on the search.

My mother asked me to take her back to the hotel because the stress was too much.

So we left my 14-yr. old niece there to babysit the kids while I took my mom to the hotel. When I got back I found Kitty in charge of four younger kids (including disabled Harrison). My niece and Patch had gone out searching ,too. A few minutes later Patch and my niece returned and I assessed that (now that it was 8 pm) the kids were all stressed and very hungry. We ordered pizza and then I knelt the kids down in a circle and we asked Heavenly Father to help find Daisy and calm everyone down.

Within 15 minutes my brother returned with Daisy. A definite miracle! He must have caught her about the time we finished our prayer. Isn't the faith of little children wonderful?

Daisy remained tightly locked in the house for the remainder of our Denver vacation.

Scripture of the Day: 1 Ne. 10:19