The Details

I firmly believe God is in the details of our lives. Elder Neal A. Maxwell talked about this in a conference talk in 1996 and that statement has stuck with me. And I have often looked back on an experience and thought to myself *yes, every detail.*

On Tuesday- one of my true marathon days- I know God was in every detail.

Tuesday was crazy! We woke up, got oldest daughter to school and then took the husband's brand new car in to the dealership to have LoJack installed (so don't even think about trying to swipe his ride- we'll know where you are within 24 hours- they have assured us).

The dealership is about 45 miles from our home- and we were fighting morning rush hour, so it took a good hour and 20 minutes to get there. Little son wanted to ride with the husband in his sweet new blue and silver roller skate, so we loaded up his car seat and the husband stressed about finding something to put behind it because of the velcro it has on the back of little son's car seat. The husband didn't want it pulling at the fabric on his new seat. I must admit, I was a little impatient with this- it seemed pointless to me, not to mention it was holding us up- and I was on a tight schedule that day. He eventually found a yellow rag to put behind the car seat to act as a buffer between the scratchy velcro strip and his new seat.

We pulled onto the freeway and I followed the husband and little son all the way to the dealership. Once the husband got all the keys handed over to the service department, he threw the yellow rag on the floor of the van while I secured little son's car seat in my car and buckled him in. Finally, we were on our way again. This time headed about 25 miles away to the husband's office.

We dropped the husband off at his office and headed home so I could get showered before dropping middle daughter off at preschool, little son at the babysitter's, and myself at oldest daughter's school to help in her classroom. Because I always help on Tuesdays. The husband and I arranged that I would pick him up right after I left oldest daughter's class and picked up middle daughter and little son. And then we would go and get his car, which should be done by then.

As we headed home, I had no idea our exit was closed. Nor do I recall any alerts along the way stating that most important detail. I was a little frustrated as we came upon our exit and there is an orange sign stating that the exit is closed. I had to drive to the next exit. Once I exited, I decided I may as well stop at Sam's Club to pick up promised treats for oldest daughter's class. (she loves the chocolate chip creme sandwich cookies rolled in sprinkles from the bakery. I highly recommend them as well)

We got the cookies, and on the way out we passed by some chicken salad that I just happened to throw in the cart.

We arrived home in time for me to shower, prepare a quick lunch for the kids and run out the door to get to preschool, babysitter's, and volunteering on time.

As the kids were loading in the car, little son determined it was important for him to play with the yellow rag that was on the floor of the van. And he dropped it to the garage floor as I was shutting the door. I left it, and jumped in and we were off.

Oldest daughter's class was in party mode and thoroughly enjoyed the treats I brought. No sooner were we done with the treats than in walks the teacher's husband with ice cream cones for all the kids and a bouquet of flowers for me. Beautiful flowers, might I add.

It just so happened that the Character Assembly was to be held at 1:30 and oldest daughter had been award the Character Award for her classroom, so I was able to attend with the class. It was a lovely assembly. And I was a proud mother.

As soon as the assembly concluded, I went ahead and signed oldest daughter out of school an hour early and we left to retrieve brother, sister and husband. And, of course, we were on a tight schedule because we had to be home in time for oldest daughter's Girl Scout Bridging to Brownie ceremony- which I would have to leave a bit early and head straight to a camp meeting.

I decided to stop by home to put the flowers in water so that they would not die on our long trip to retrieve the husband and his little tikes look-alike car.

After I got the flowers taken care of and headed out to the garage, I noticed the infamous yellow rag was attached to the front drivers side tire. I stooped to pull it off the tire and found a bit of resistance. As I reached my hand to the inside of the tire to detach it, I felt the wire on the tire tread and immediately took that as a bad sign. And the first thing I thought was, "There is no way I am going on a 100 mile freeway trip with my tire in this condition!"

I called the husband and alerted him of the situation and told him to stand by, because I thought I could pick up the other two kids, get the tires changed at Sam's Club and then still make it to his office and to the dealership and back home in time for the ceremony and my meeting.

It turned out (and this is where I am making a long story a little less long) that Sam's Club doesn't carry our particular tires- special order only. So I went over to Wal-Mart- and there is only one guy working with 3 customers waiting and he was no where to be found. Par for Wal-Mart. So I headed to Pep Boys across the street.

I ended up replacing the two front tires and had them do a front-end alignment, called the husband to let him know it would take an hour and a half and would not be able to make it to his office to get him. He got a cab to the dealership to retrieve the date car, and made it home before I did- all in rush hour traffic.

After the mechanic pulled off the tires, he showed me the terrible shape they were in- the tread gone, wires exposed and a couple of gaps- and expressed his surprise that they hadn't already blown. I was in awe. I was thankful for the annoyance of finding a yellow rag to protect a new car's seat, thankful for a son who has to play with everything and thankful for a teacher who gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers that I had to return home to put in water. If not for these three things, I am positive I would have encountered some catastrophic event on the freeway.

I arrived home after the husband, quickly whipped up brownies for the "Brownie" Ceremony, slapped some chicken salad on bread (being thankful I had thrown it in the cart at Sam's Club earlier that morning), ironed patches on oldest daughter's Daisy Girl Scout tunic, and rushed out the door to make it just on time for the ceremony. After which, I ran to my meeting- arriving just after the opening prayer.

Once I had a chance to breathe that night, I gave thanks to a loving Father in Heaven for watching out for me.

And for caring enough to be in the details of my life.

Yes, every detail.