Our long trip home

We finally made it home to our beautiful house. It was around 9:30 when we pulled up and I'll tell you what I couldn't of been more pleased to be anywhere. As some know Sunday was a very trying day for our family and yet it was a day of great spiritual growth for us also.


We started our trip on Friday around 6 and drove a couple of hours to make some progress towards our home in UT. We stopped in Altoona, IA and stayed at a nice hotel. The girls loved being there and the trip went really well. On Saturday we drove and drove and drove. It was the longest leg of our trip driving. We drove about 12 or 13 hours. We got through Nebraska and were a good portion of the way through Wyoming when we started to have some crazy weather. Since we were towing a 25 ft camper trailer in back of our car and the weather was so crazy we decided to stop in Laramie for the night even though it was only around 6. We had planned on pushing through and getting home around 12:30 a.m. We were able to get some food that wasn't served through a window and again stayed at a really nice hotel. The next morning Azlie woke Ben and I up at 4 and since we were both up we decided to get things going after laying awake in bed for 30 minutes. The girls got going and were excited to get home. We started out on the road about 5:40 and at 5:50 all of our worldly possessions were on the side of I 80 W.


The weather in WY continued to be crazy all night and into the morning. Bobbert (our excursion) had a good inch of ice and snow on it when we came out in the morning. We scrapped it off and cautiously set out on our last leg. We had only gone about 7 miles when we drove over one of those over passes that are installed so the animals will go under the highway and not over it. Well the ice had formed and when we drove over it as soon as the trailer touched it it started to fishtail. Ben did an awesome job controlling the car as much as he could and saving us. But in the process our trailer flipped and everything we owned was on the side of the road. I will say that I felt the Lords hands around my family that day in so many different ways. First off the police officer that responded to the call said that 9 out of 10 accidents where trailers flip they also take the car along with them. Our Bobbert had limited damage (we now know about $3200 worth). Our front tire bead broke so we only needed to spend $10 to get that fixed. Better than the 130+ it would of been to replace it. Also one of the side back windows broke and Cecilia was sitting right next to it and she didn't even have a scratch on her from all the glass nor did anyone else that was in the car. All the kids were just fine. Alex was the most upset but I think she was more worried about losing her favorite stuffed animal than anything else. When I told her that everything we lost could be replaced she started to perk up. Also since it had been a long trip I took some of my heavy duty anxiety med that morning. That alone was a blessing since if we had gone through all of this without it I would of needed to go to the hospital and be treated there. I remember thinking when taking that med in the morning that I wasn't really feeling anxiety but that I should take it just in case. Since I had taken my strong med I was feeling really tired and was looking forward to sleeping for a couple of hours and was laying down on the front seat without my seat belt on. Yeah I know I was stupid, Ben gave me a stern talking to about not doing that again. If the trailer had flipped the car also I would of most likely been thrown. There are really too many things to list where I could see the Lord protecting us.


After we had called the cops and our moms I called our new old bishop and asked to have a meal brought into us because of what happened. That turned into our ward getting together and stocking our house with really everything we would need. We had bed set up and made, food in the fridge and the pantry totally stocked, furniture in the living room and family room, towels and poofs in the bathrooms along with soaps, shampoos, conditioner, baby wipes, diapers, toothpaste, toothbrushes, TP, girl products. We had cleaning products, and a kitchen table and chairs, dishes and cups, paper goods in the cupboards. I will say that the tears of sorrow from the beginning of the day quickly turned to tears of joy and gratitude. I am amazed at how blessed we were and how so many people stepped up when they didn't have to. We have some great friends/ward family here. Both Ben and my mom have also stepped in to help with whatever we need also. It is so amazing to me that people would go out of their way to do what they did for our family. Times are hard all around and I know that we are not the only people in need and we had planned on replacing things slowly when we had the money to but thanks to some great people we are able to focus on getting settled and back into our new old home.


After we moved away from this house I wouldn't come back in because it was so hard to leave and I didn't want to have negative feelings about leaving. We didn't leave here because we didn't like our home or where we were but for Ben to move onto the next stage in his career. There was something bitter sweet about leaving. In the whole 14 months that we were gone I kept telling Ben that when we found a new home I really needed to love it because I wanted to stop missing our home in UT. I never found that home. We came close and I am so grateful that we have been able to come back and settle down here. I have to say that I can see us staying here for a long time. Something that I always hope for with each move but can really see now. It's almost like we had to go through all this moving this past year to have the Lord drill into us that it was time to stop or to beat that moving spirit out of us.

Thanks to all who supported us through this year and who were willing to continue to support us in the good and the bad times. We love you guys so much.