Thunder, flyers and prayer

We were just out doing flyers and we are soaked. It has been raining off and on all day with bouts of thunder. After lunch the sky looked less dark and the rain had slowed down to a slight drizzle. So we figured we would head out and see how much we could get done. We have our route divided into two main sections. We do the first part on one day and the second part on the next day.

Here is a map of the first section we do and what we actually got done today. The nice thing about this first section is that the streets are narrow on usually only have one or two houses on them so we can just walk up and down the avenues and get all of the houses. This first section is just under 200 papers and takes us about 90 minutes. We delivered 100 papers today in just under an hour.

View Flyer route part 1 in a larger map

(let me just suggest that if you care to see an accurate map of our real route to click on the map. for some reason when I embed it here everything looks messed up, but it gives you an idea. OK never mind, it's all messed up there too. I don't know what is wrong with google maps, or maybe it's me, but neither of these maps look like the ones I created, and when I go to edit them, they look like what I did create....I've spent far to much time trying to figure it out and can't so we'll all just have to make do with the messed up ones.)

This is a map of the second section. This part is about 150 papers.
This part is a lot less nicely laid out and although it is less papers, it takes us the same amount of time.
View Flyer route part 2 in a larger map

We were just about done the first chunk of section one when the thunder returned and with it came the pouring rain. The thunder was loud. I had Kymberly and James in the chariot trailer keeping nice and dry. I was so proud of how my girls held up. At one crack of thunder Tansley started running, but she didn't freak out. Kymberly kept saying something about "Playing right now" but I couldn't understand what she was saying the rain was so loud pounding off of the chariot. We quickly finished up the first chunk of the first section and headed inside to wait for the rain to stop. Tansley asked Kymberly if she was scared of the thunder, and she said "Nope, because I prayed three times". It was then that I realized that she wasn't saying "can we PLAY right now" she had said "can we PRAY right now". Tansley then said "me too, I prayed before we left."

Here is a little back story. Last summer when we were camping at Eureka Montana we got caught in a big thunder storm. We hunkered down in our tent while it poured and poured and poured. The lightning was so bright because it was so close and the thunder was near deafening at times. The girls were completely freaked out and hysterically crying. Later that night when the rain and thunder had moved on, we were sitting around the campfire and Kathryn was giving us a Family Home Evening lesson from a story she had read in the friend. It was about a little boy who was scared during a lightning storm. His mom taught him that he could pray for Heavenly Father to comfort him. Ever since then Tansley has applied this lesson to her own life. Remembering to pray when she feels scared. She has told me that it really works. I was surprised however that Kymberly would have remembered this lesson...or maybe she didn't but has had similar type lessons in primary. Either way, all on her own she applied it to her own life and it really worked for her too.

I love seeing my children learn and grow. I love to see them making connections and building their own faith. It pleases me so, and brings a smile to my face.