Baby, It's Cold Inside!

We had a big ice storm one night (after having a snow day). By 2:30am, all four children were in our room...joy! Ben was freezing - the clock wasn't working, so I figured the power was out. (I'm just brilliant in the middle of the night!) After feeding Mitchell, I couldn't go back to sleep and made all kinds of plans for how we would survive without power for a few days. (Last time this happened, people were out 3-5 days). I had it all worked out and could finally get back to sleep around 4:30.

We were doing puzzles upstairs (covered in blankets) around 10am, when we got a call from the Relief Society President in our ward at church - asking if we had power. Andy checked our thermostat - 56 degrees! It was so cold! We thought about packing up some stuff and going to the church. No power there! Andy and I had a little conversation about staying home versus going elsewhere. I was all for staying home and had to be convinced that our children cannot regulate body temperatures, it would just keep getting colder in our house, we don't want anyone to get so cold they can't warm up, and did I remember that we have a tiny baby that we need to keep warm?

So, we finally knelt to have a family prayer to decide. After the prayer we all agreed that we needed to go somewhere with power (temp dropped to 55 during those ten minutes). We called Sis. Dayton back and said we would love to come and crash at their place for a bit! And how do I know that prayers and concerns are answered? While we were downstairs (in the dark basement) packing clothes (that didn't end up matching, oh well!), we got phone calls from three other church members offering their homes to us, as well as one from a neighbor suggesting we find somewhere to stay.

Wow! The people here sure make the winters bearable! Here are a few reasons why my children (Andy included) were thrilled with the situation:

1. They love Sister Dayton.
2. They love Sister Dayton's toys.
3. They love the Daytons' pool table.
4. They love the Daytons' Wii.
5. The Daytons have wireless for Andy to connect to work/school (poor guy couldn't even call the school to check for classes because the internet was down because it comes through the phone which is portable and needs to be plugged in; he was so stressed not having internet access for such a LONG time!!!!).
6. Sis. Dayton loves to spoil everyone - me included (she let me make my favorite Ranch dip!!!).

I could keep going on and on; suffice it to say, the blow up mattresses were a hit, the games were exceptional and we felt very at home. Andy loved hanging out with President Dayton - and we even got some good actual "lawyering" talk in.

We spent some time the next day doing Relief Society visits while kids were in school and then swung by our house to get clothes for the next day. Want to know how well our house is insulated? It was 36 degrees!!! I guess I didn't need to worry about the food spoiling! I came back from picking up the kids after school to hot homemade (by Emily and Sis. Dayton) bread and honey-butter as an after school snack. Thanks so much Pres. and Sis. Dayton!!!! We love you both!

It was a great big silver lining to what could have been a very drastic situation. We are so glad that Heavenly Father often answers our prayers through other people!!!