Honey I'm Home!

You may have noticed I haven't blogged for a little bit. My teaching contract went until the end of June (the end of the school year in France). One of my best friends, Tammy, came over, and we were busy doing a little exploring on that glorious continent we call Europe. We saw dear, old friends and made some fabulous new ones. :) I'll be updating you on the adventures we like to call "Europe Extravaganza" in the near future.

I flew into SLC early Friday morning, putting an end to 48 hours of traveling. (I began in Paris, spent the night in the Dublin airport, flew to JFK in NYC, had an eight hr. layover there, and finally boarded a flight to SLC.) Arriving in Salt Lake, my plane was 40 minutes late. You see, they had to shut JFK down so that Mr. Obama could take off. So I saw Air Force One lift off out of my airplane window. A dream come true. Not so much... :)

Nicole and I road-tripped it up to Montana later that day, and had a blast doing so. She had class Friday morning, we had to dine at Café Rio, and then we stopped at my friend Tammy's (in Logan) to pick up a suitcase and exchange pictures, as well as return trip stories. So let's just say that if all had gone well, my sister and I would have pulled into the driveway at 2 AM. However, at about 1, the car died on us. If your car has to die, Nicole's picked a pretty decent spot to do so (there were two lanes at this point in the road). We stood out in that fresh Montana air, surrounded by dense forest, under the millions of stars that are only visible in such a place, and we prayed and we prayed and we prayed. There was no reception, so the only call we could make was heavenbound. It was a sacred experience to stand in the thick darkness, far from any sort of civilization, and to feel such peace, knowing that Heavenly Father was aware of Nicole and me and our situation at that very moment, and that our prayers would be answered. There was some sort of electrical failure on the car, and therefore we didn't have warning lights, or any sort of light, for that matter. We prayed to our Heavenly Father for protection and help. After a half hour or 45 minutes, we saw some headlights approching. So we took our flashlights and began waving them around like crazy so that this car could see us as it came around the curve. A kind lady pulled over and tried to help. The most help she was really capable of giving was to take our parents' number and call them as soon as she found a phone. Nicole's car was still in the road, and we couldn't leave it there...we had no lights, and someone could have easily come around the curve and run into it at full-speed. This kind woman went on her way, promising she would call our parents as soon as possible. Nicole and I continued to pray for help. Probably another 30 minutes later, we heard another car approaching. We waved our flashlights around frantically, and another angel pulled over. This angel knew a little more about cars, and was able to move the car over to the side of the road. He lives pretty close to us, and offered to give us a lift. We connected instantly...you see, he is a former redhead. :) This kind man entertained us with interesting stories on the way home, with sporadic, hilarious little interjections from his cute 100 year old father. So the journey home was an adventure, to say the least. But Someone was watching over us, protecting us from danger, making sure we made it home safely. And now I'm home with my family. There is nothing more wonderful in this world than home.