Tonight we went to the LDS conference center for a Muzart World Foundation benefit concert to hear our school orchestra perform along with Jackie Evancho and other artists. Jackie Evancho was amazing (sample). There was another performer Mark Wood who was not so amazing. Actually, he was quite talented technically but he had this electric violin and a band of young adults who had weird hair and outfits who played a few rock songs in typically flailing, flashy, fierce fashion. Now, there isn’t really anything wrong with the songs they played, it was mostly hearing those songs in the conference center where we usually listen to a prophet of God speak that made it seem wrong. And the fact that President Monson was there tonight made it even stranger. Then, right after the second rock song our orchestra played “Ode to Joy” along with a huge choir. It was inspiring, heart-warming, and spiritually refreshing. The orchestra and choir got a VERY enthusiastic standing ovation! I think everyone in the audience, and there where several thousand there, could feel the difference in the spirit of the two songs. I was grateful for an opportunity for our children to feel and sense the contrast.

Now for the tender mercy… We just got back from Seattle on Thursday morning where Grant had a school heads conference. We had a wonderful time with the Laws and the O’dells and Wendell and Cathy. I LOVE Grant’s family so much. Seattle was beautiful and it was an exciting time to be there as Bethany’s baby was past due and could be born at any time. (Sadly he decided to wait until after we left to be born!) On Tuesday afternoon we left Seattle and drove to the Cascades where we stayed in this beautiful lodge in the mountains. (Suncadia Resort) There was a beautiful, huge swimming pool, an indoor and outdoor hot tub and sauna. The outdoor hot tub was especially nice because there was a light drizzle that refreshed us and made the hot tub so steamy and warm feeling. Everything just seemed so fresh and clean! At one point Anna took her life jacket off then forgetting to put it back on walked down the stairs into the pool. I saw her walking down into deep water in over her head as we were walking to catch up with her and I yelled for Grant (who is faster than I am) to help her. He indeed moved faster than I thought humanly possible and pulled her out of the water. She had been so still in the water, not even fighting to stay afloat! She gasped when Grant pulled her out and then began to cry and that was that!

The tender mercy here was that we were there to pull her out! The whole time while we were swimming we took turns watching her. She is very confident in the water because she always has her life jacket on so we felt confident having Sam and Lizzie watch her for a short time while we were in the hot tub or sauna. This one time she didn’t have it on would have been so easy to miss. It was so sudden, so quiet, it could have been a silent passing out of this life, and our lives would have been forever changed. How grateful I am that it was not her time to go. How grateful I feel that I can still snuggle with my little Anna and feel her warmth. Oh, how much I need to cherish these children every day!