Rachel ~ Lost & Found

Today I took the girls to an Easter egg hunt event in a neighboring town.  Sullivan was at a church meeting so it was just me and the girls.  I knew there were going to be a lot of people at this event so I took a few precautions.  I wore a super-bright pink shirt and instructed the girls to stay close to me and to always look for mommy's shirt if you get separated even a little.

We arrived without any difficulty and found the event to be very well organized and structured.  There were lots of fun games and activities for kids and the girls and I were having a great time.  The egg drop was the main attraction for the event.  The hunt was divided up by age groups.  The times and locations were different for each age group.  Elizabeth and Rachel went together.  There were hundreds of people gathered around the area for the egg drop.  They instructed the parents not to go in with the children into the area during the egg hunt.  They counted down for the kids to go and off went Elizabeth and Rachel into the crowd.  I was able to see Rachel a few times, but soon the crowd became too scattered and I lost track of them both.  It was a fairly small area for the egg hunt so I waited for the girls to come back to me.

After all the eggs were collected Elizabeth came out from the crowd but there was no sign of Rachel.  I grabbed Elizabeth's hand and we set off to find her.  After all the crowd had dispersed Rachel was still no where to be found.  I told every event organizer I could find and they announced Rachel's missing status over the PA.  I found some friends of mine who were at the event and we all set off looking for Rachel.  My heart was breaking as each minute passed and I began to imagine how afraid she might be and even that I might not find her.  So many feelings swarmed me and I turned to my Father in heaven, a pleading child of God, to help me find her and that she would be safe and well.  I was praying out-loud at this point and I was feeling more and more helpless as the minutes passed.

Finally, I heard my friend's voice yelling to me that she was found.  I turned toward the voice; he was carrying her and walking towards me.  I began to cry as I held my baby girl Rachel.  Rachel had no idea that she was even lost.  She had gone to the other area where the older kids were gathered around their Easter Egg Hunt awaiting their turn to collect Easter eggs.  Elizabeth and I however had quite an experience together that we would not want to repeat.  In talking with Elizabeth about the experience Elizabeth expressed her love for Rachel and how grateful she was to have Rachel back.  When we got home we knelt together and thanked Heavenly Father for watching over Rachel and bringing her back to us.