Well, our 24th of July Celebration started out pretty normal, but by the end of the night, it ended up being one of the most amazing experiences of my life!
All of the neighbors on our loop got together for an Ice Cream Social and fireworks. Everyone had a great time and the kids had a blast watching the fireworks. After cleaning up the big mess the fireworks made, we headed inside to get the kids ready for bed. After our family prayer, I kindly reminded Matthew about paying his tithing the next day at church. He went to get what he owed and realized that his wallet was missing. Instantly, I remembered seeing him with it a couple days earlier when we were at Wal-Mart trying on basketball shorts. While Matt continued to help Matthew look everywhere (the van, his room, his laundry) for his wallet, I went into my bedroom to say a prayer. I knew that losing this wallet would be devastating, because it had $108 of Matthew's hard earned money in it. Not long after, I was lying in bed to go to sleep and I kept thinking, "Could his wallet have fallen out of his pocket when he was trying on shorts?" If so, there was no way we were going to get it back. All of a sudden, I had a strong feeling to get out of bed and call Wal-Mart to see if a wallet had been turned in. Although it was well after 11:00 pm, I went and found my receipt and called. I said, "I know this is a long shot, but we are just retracing steps. My son lost his wallet and we are wondering if, by chance, it got turned in." After describing the wallet to him, the Wal-Mart employee let me know that it had been turned in and the cash was still in it...I was shocked! He continued to say that we could pick the wallet up tonight, tomorrow, or whenever...it would be locked up until Matthew came to identify it. I said, "Thank you so much!" and hung up the phone. What a blessing! Matthew was totally happy and relieved of course. We decided that there was no hurry to go get it, so I went and got in bed a second time. Shortly after, I had a strong feeling that Matthew and I needed to go and get his wallet tonight! I knew that we wouldn't go to Wal-Mart on Sunday and plus Matthew wanted to pay his tithing tomorrow. So, I grabbed Matthew a little after 11:30 pm and we headed up the road to Wal-Mart. We retrieved the wallet and got back in the van. It was 11:53 pm and I remember telling Matthew, "We got to get home before midnight, because we don't want to be out on Sunday." and he said, "O.K., you better hurry Mom!" When we turned onto our street, right away I noticed smoke and an orange glow coming from the side of our next door neighbor's house. At first I thought that maybe they were doing more fireworks, but as I drove past our house out of curiosity, I realized that we were seeing a raging fire! The fire was behind their gate, so I wasn't able to see what was in flames. Speaking of flames, they were huge and shooting well above the gate and were getting higher each second. I put my van in park right in the middle of the road and told Matthew to go call 911. I ran up to the Smith's door and started pounding...keep in mind that it's close to mid-night now. I pounded until Bro. Smith answered the door - in his garments, bent over, trying to put on pants.:) I told him there was a huge fire on the side of his house.
He headed out back and started putting out the flames with a hose. Matthew had gotten Matt and he headed over to help. Come to find out, it was their garbage can that was on fire. The same garbage can that all of the fireworks got put in from earlier that evening. Bro. Smith said that he had dumped buckets of water over the garbage to prevent this very thing from happening, but there was an ember that did not get put out and it continued smoldering for hours, eventually causing the garbage can to ignite. The fire caused major damage to the gate, but no damage to the house! The garbage can became a show piece for those that drove by the next few days...what a site! The Smith's were very grateful to us and once they heard the story of why we were out so late they said, "Matthew paying his tithing was our Fire Insurance!"
I had a hard time going to sleep that night!:) I kept thinking of everything that played a key part in the events that happened. One of the thoughts that hit me really hard was something I remembered saying in my prayer earlier that evening. Among many things I said and asked Heavenly Father for, I distinctively remember saying, "Please bless me with opportunities to serve others." My prayer was answered! The Spirit prompted me two different times and what I felt was right and so I acted. The wallet was meant to be found; otherwise, we would have had no reason to be out that late! If we weren't rushing to be home before Sunday, I know that arriving minutes later we might have come home to a totally different seen! Heavenly Father is in every detail of our lives. I know that we are blessed when we pay our tithing and keep the Sabbath Day holy. I know that through the Holy Ghost, as taught in D&C 46:9-11, we can receive gifts of the Spirit for our benefit and for the benefit of those we love and serve. I am forever grateful for this experience and that Matthew was able to be a part of it!
Kenzie and Tate are little buds! After each class they picked a licorice piece and ate it while they dried off.
