Tender Mercies

My life is full of “tender mercies,” but I have been especially blessed this last week. By the miracle of the internet, I was able to hear Brian sing "I'll be home for Christmas" (sigh- we'll miss him!) at his Ward Christmas party (Soirée Serenade) , read that his broken foot has healed and he is walking around, albeit somewhat crazily, on two good feet, and learn that our grandson, Braden, is wishing for his two front teeth this Christmas. By phone, I learned that Julie’s broken leg is healing. And, I had the opportunity, with David, to visit Tom, Amy, Jacob, Allison, and Gideon in California. (David attended a leadership training conference for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in which we will be involved in January through the first of March. We went down early to spend some time with the Omer Family.)

Here are some highlights of our trip…

Hiking up to Griffith Observatory. These guys are world class hikers. Los Angeles was spectacular in the distance. On the other side of the mountain was Hollywood and its famous sign.

A fun time was had by all! Getting ready for church... Grandpa was in charge of Jacob's close shave...

while Grandma loved getting Allison "all dolled up!"

Visiting Jacob's pre-school...

Postgame Jenga after FHE...

A chance to read together...

And hang out at our hotel... loved the warm hot tub.

Jacob and Allison braved the chilly water and weather to show Grandma their swimming skills.

Ahh... a towel and a snuggle is a good thing.

On our way to Los Angeles, David and I spent a wonderful afternoon at the magnificent Getty Center- awesome gardens...

wonderful art...

and amazing architecture.

Then we headed down to Hollywood, where the last but a significant tender mercy occurred. We were one exit away from our destination, the Pantages Theater, when we hit heavy traffic. We slowed down, but the car in front of us apparently didn’t. He swerved and laid rubber and we put on the brakes. For a calm second or two, we thought we were fine, until the car behind us slammed into us. The best laid plans of walking around Hollywood before heading to the theater evaporated as we waited quite a while for the Highway Patrol to arrive. Once we were safely off the freeway, another officer arrived and the two of them worked quickly to get us on our way to the theater to see... “Wicked.”

We arrived just in time for the bell warning the audience to be seated. We really did enjoy the show, but the experience was dampened by our highway mishap and sore necks, as a result. However, we were so full of gratitude for tender mercies. We could have been going much faster and following much closer, with disastrous effects. The car behind us could have been going faster and following closer, with disastrous effects. Our rental car sustained scrapes and dents

but the other car had some major damage, including a bumper that was about to fall off on the side not seen in the picture.

We could have suffered significant injuries, but we were pretty much ok. We did find out that the insurance company of the people who hit us has agreed to cover everything, including medical care if we need it. Our insurance company will never hear about it.... We are truly blessed and we acknowledge all those tender mercies we experienced during our visit to California.