By Small and Simple Things

Yesterday I was going through old mission pictures and letters. It was a lot of fun looking back on my mission, and being able to recall some pretty amazing and wonderful experiences. As I was looking through some letters I happened to find a page that had been ripped out of a coloring book. I unfolded the page to see a carefully colored picture of an ant that was putting up a piece of wood, a support beam. The caption on the page read, "Little pieces of wood helped hold up the walls." I didn't give this picture any thought beyond how sweet it was that a young child in one of my areas had taken the time to color and give me this picture. They may not know or understand the magnitude of what was written on those pages, but I think I now do. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass" (Alma 37:6.) Like the ant in the picture, the beam he was putting up was quite a bit smaller than the other ones in the picture, but by putting up that piece of wood, it helped hold up the walls. "Little pieces of wood helped hold up the walls." Those little pieces of wood are the small and simple things of life.

I want to thank all of you for your love and support in regards to Madi these last few months. We have felt your love and your prayers. Simple things like a smile, calling to see how we are doing, prayers, and several other things have all contributed to where we are now. All of these small things truly have made, "great things come to pass."

We have another doctor's appointment this Thursday for Madi. At this appointment they will take a chest x-ray to see if there is fluid in her lungs. If there is, there is a possibility that we will need to return to Boise for her to once again have a chest tube put in (they say the pain that she will feel is similar to dislocating a rib). If this is the case, we don't know how long we will be there for. I am very nervous about this, considering all we went through before. We are hoping and praying for the best. I would be so grateful if you could keep Madi in your thoughts and prayers this week, and especially on Thursday. Thank you again for all you have done.