Spring Break Miracle

We have been looking forward to our trip to Southern California for Spring Break for awhile. The kids were excited and we were very excited. In the days before we were to depart, I did laundry and prepared the house. We bought Dramamine, sunscreen, flip flops and Capri's. We were ready for the fun and the sun we assumed we would have in California.

On the Thursday before we left, Molly had a little friend over to play. Susie is an adorable little girl and the girls played nicely and I was able to get the last few things ready.

Thursday night, I heard that Susie was very sick. She was throwing up and miserable. I felt so bad for the little thing and then I started to worry. We were leaving on our trip on Saturday. I worried that Molly would get sick and spread the dreaded stomach bug to the rest of us. I worried that we wouldn't be able to go on our trip at all. Or worse -- we would leave and get sick in the car or at my sister-in-law's house, spreading the bug to innocent victims.

I didn't even dare mention it to Utah Dad. He has hypochondriac tendencies, after all. I prayed all day Friday that we would be spared the illness. By Saturday, no one was sick and we were busy. I forgot all about poor Susie as we packed up the car and headed south.

In fact, Susie didn't cross my mind at all while we were in California. No one got sick (Lilly and Molly already had a bit of a cold--they got rid of the rest of their snot at the beach on Monday and were better the rest of the trip) and we had a marvelous time. The kids have been after me to blog more about our trip, so I'll be sharing more this week.

I didn't think about Susie and her bug until we returned home the next week. And then I realized just how blessed we had been to be spared the sickness. Susie vomited for five days. Her brother and sister had both gotten sick too. Several other families in our neighborhood had also suffered over Spring Break from this horrible stomach bug that lasted, in each case, five days.

I felt so bad for the families who had been so miserable during their break from school but I was also infinitely grateful for this small (maybe not so small) miracle that had blessed my family. After learning just how sick others had been, I came home and shared our miracle with Utah Dad and my children. As a family, we gave thanks to our loving Heavenly Father, who smiled his great mercy upon us and allowed us to have a wonderful vacation together.