Summer Before England: Part 2

I should of titled this post, "The Most Unlucky Summer of Our Lives." With 3+ cars breaking down (some multiple times even after we fixed it), Derek's appendix bursting and causing complications, resulting in a 29 day hospital stay, family members getting sick, all around the time Cole was leaving on his mission to London...etc. Derek finally was able to come home from the hospital, but he is still hooked up to an IV, and has to carry his cute backpack around with his nutrition bags in it. Love you Derek! When Derek finally came home from the hospital, we thought our bad luck must be over! Then, last night as we were shooting in the desert with everyone for family night, my mom was shooting a high-powered 7 mag rifle, and the scope kicked back and gashed her forehead open! So she had to go to the ER and get it glued back together. She looks so cute with the little cut. She is probably the only person I know who could rock a glued up forehead! She looks tough-and she is! 

With everything that has happened, it's easy to ask "why me? why us?" but looking back, I'm sure that I would rather title this post, "The Most Blessed Summer of Our Lives." The quote "Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ," comes to mind. Even though all of these things happened, we feel blessed that everything wasn't more serious when it very well could have been.. We felt so much love and service from kind friends and family We really do feel Heavenly Father answering our prayers, and calming our troubled hearts. When our family talks about this summer's experiences, we laugh together. Some of the best memories have been made this summer, and I can't wait to talk about these stories together for the rest of our lives. Today is our last day in Idaho, in America even! Tomorrow morning we leave for England. I am going to miss our family too much, but I know that they will be just fine. I can already feel the homesickness sinking in, but I'm not going to let that bring me down. I'm going to use it for motivation, to never let my family down.
See you on Friday, England!