How I got my Groove back...

We went to the temple on Saturday. And when I say 'went to the temple', I mean arrived at the temple, realized I didn't have my wallet, couldn't reach anyone in our ward or stake leadership due to a training, and watched a movie at the visitor's center instead. I was sure my wallet was lying around the house somewhere. I've spent the last two days searching everywhere, frantically checking the balances on credit cards and reviewing Saturday's events in every detail. But to no avail, my wallet could not be found! Thankfully, no money was being spent, so I thought it must be around the house...I had even seen Hayden playing in my purse and suspected he had hidden it somewhere.

The last two nights have been terrible. Apparently all my greatest fears have surfaced under this stress and I've had nightmares about friends getting divorced, water streaming down the walls of our house, not being able to run our half-marathon because I didn't have ID, and even that I was pregnant and it was a girl but I didn't believe the doctors! While awake, I've been worried that my financial future is being ruined by someone selling my identity on ebay. I dug up our back-up credit card today, put a fraud alert on our credit report, and decided I would begin canceling accounts tomorrow.

While checking our bank account for the two hundred and fifty-sixth time, I got a phonecall from our credit card company. They were on the phone with a spanish-speaking woman who had found my wallet in the parking lot of the last store I had been to!! The operator cancelled our account and helped set up a rendesvous with said lady at the 'Peter Pan Buffet' so I could retrieve my wallet. Travis said he would drive me 'in case of a set-up', we ditched our Family Home Evening plans, and hit the road.

I spent the next 30 minutes going over every scenario and wondering what would be left in my wallet when we got there and trying to remember all of my high school spanish! I called my new friend, Alba, once we got there and in no time, she arrived with my wallet! She talked for about 10 minutes or so and she explained how she had found it. I was amazed at how much I understood her (Gracias Senora Yoder/AP Spanish!!). SO, she found the wallet on Sunday, just sitting in the parking lot of the Korean market we visited after the clothing exchange. The cash was gone, but everything else was intact!! Thankfully, I only had $20 and some change, which was a small price to pay considering how bad it could have been. I probably didn't put it all the way in my purse, or it fell out of my purse, or who knows, maybe someone took it?

She told me how she couldn't find my phone number anywhere, and called the credit card company looking for me. She was worried that my social security card was in there and even my checks (I'm so stupid, I know). I asked her about her family and it turns out, she has five kids back home in Honduras. She and her husband made sure I checked to see that everything was there and were so glad to help me out. I'm just glad for honest people who could have used my money more than me and chose to do the right thing...What a relief! So a big thank-you to Alba and her sweet husband who were looking out for a complete stranger...and note to self, I am going to carry only the minimum number of cards from now on. So I'm off to cancel all our cards, switch bank accounts and re-route all of our direct debit payments. But I'd rather be doing that than seeing what my nightmares would be like tonight!

And here's some random pictures:

Grant's first big school project: A timeline of his life. We worked on it every day last week and he did a great job!

Hayden has a quick bath in the sink last week. How cute is he?

Blake at back to school night.