during the last couple months we have been stretched, our hearts expanded and gratitude deepened. it's been challenging and miraculous. my compassion has grown and my testimony strengthened...i feel humbled and privileged to be a part of it.
life was starting to feel a little normal-ish
then...
sadie bore her testimony in church about her brother being protected and how this has been a summer of spiritual growth, faith and miracles for our family.
well...
ashley kewish's father just happen to be attending our church and heard sadie. the next day i got a call from ashley, a reporter for ksl, and she wanted to do a story about abe. she also said her father was super complimentary of sadie:)
(she is going to let sadie shadow her at the ksl studio, which will be awesome
since sadie is interested in news broadcasting)
a couple days later, ashley and her camera man, along with emilee eager (a reporter from deseret news) came to our house. they interviewed us and stayed for over two hours. they are great people and i'm so glad our paths crossed. ashley brought her mom to hear the story and we ended up meeting her husband and kids also.
abe was so nervous. he doesn't need to be the center of attention. i let him decide if he wanted to do the interview. he and i talked about the impression i had in the hospital that this miracle wasn't just for us, so even though he was scared, he thought it was worth sharing. it was difficult for him to answer some of the questions...we've discussed it frequently, but personally, i don't think he has a need to analyze it too much. he knows he was protected, he felt people's prayers and he is ok now. i am amazed not only at god's hand in it and the feeling i had that he was aware of abe, even before i knew abe would be ok, but also all the professionals that did their jobs so well. they saved him and how can you ever express enough thanks for that?
anyway, we did the interviews and it was a good experience.
the story came out thursday night on ksl and friday morning in the deseret news.
ksl used pictures from my blog, but deseret news sent jeffrey allred for a photo shoot. abe literally walked in the door from byu camp and jeffrey was there ready to take pictures for the paper and online the next morning. he was great with the kids!
i enjoyed meeting him and hearing about the amazing places he's been and some of the impressive photos he's shot.
pretty cool that we got to be one of them.
my dear friend invited us and another family over to watch the news at 10pm. none of us have tv! :) so we streamed it, but had technical difficulties...we laughed that we might not even get to watch it live! i swear she prayed and her husband figured it out just in time for abe's story. sadie was in st. george with her girl cousins, but text me about abe's commercials...fun that he was the news "teaser". we ate treats and watched and when it was over, we all cheered!!! a happy ending! yeah! abe, kai, and max enjoyed the night....and we were grateful the story was positive.
at one point, abe was the head story on-line.
i am so glad people got a glimpse of his experience.
emilee eager wrote the story for the deseret news. we talked a lot and i really like her. she was bold and included the spiritual aspect of the story, which represented our experience and i respect her for it because sometimes that's not easy.
(deseret news facebook page)
here are a few of my favorite photos from the deseret news story.
(photo by jeffrey allred)
(photo by jeffrey allred)
(photo by jeffrey allred)
i thought that was the end of it....i went to church early sunday and somebody stopped me and said they saw it on the national news early that morning. what?! i was totally surprised. supposedly, the associated press published the story and then papers all over the country picked it up.
dave and i were sitting on the couch when we received a text from his mom saying she just watched us on the today show....
we looked online and there it was!
abe was one of the most viewed videos for the day
i had to take this picture of their web page -- abe right next to obama!!
when i had the thought this miracle wasn't just for us, i had no idea! i hope the story reached someone who needed it. i know it has strengthened my family!
abe watched the today show with me. i wondered what his reaction would be.... he chuckled...thought it was pretty funny that his "famous line" turned out to be:
“It felt kind of like stinging, but kind of like a bruise-sting mix..."
-Abe Tullis
he and i were sitting on the porch the other night and he told me something felt like a bruise. immediately we both looked at each other, and in unison said, "like stinging, but kind of like a bruise-sting mix!" we laughed!!! he is such a fun kid and has handled the experience and the attention amazingly well. over 20 sites have published his story, including places like austrailia, new zealand and europe! abe thought that was cool. a couple other people contacted us about interviews, so we'll see. he was invited to be on a show in LA-- they wanted to fly us to LA! although it sounded intriguing, fun and tempting, we decided to go on a very needed family vacation that week instead! i hope that's a good decision. i'm trying to follow abe's lead and a relaxing vacation, with the whole family, seems to be needed and a high priority at this point in time.
to top it all off:
i was preparing for sharing time about the priesthood--thinking a lot about how the priesthood has blessed my family.
abe is 12 and just received the aaronic priesthood. i've always thought it was interesting that twelve year olds and anyone that receives the aaronic priesthood are promised the keys of the ministering of angels. (D&C 13:1, D&C 84:26, D&C 107:20).
- WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE THE KEYS OF THE MINISTERING OF ANGELS?
- President Gordon B. Hinckley: "That means, as I interpret it, that if you live worthy of the priesthood, you have the right to receive and enjoy the very power of heavenly beings to guide you, to protect you, to bless you." (Ensign, Nov 1982, p45)
- Oscar W. McConkie: "The administration of angels need not be as dramatic as were those of the restoring agents from on high. Angels may minister and the recipient need not know the source of his strength or joy. For example, one person may be helped while speaking from the pulpit, while another may receive guidance at a critical junction in his life. In some instances a third party has been aware of the presence of angels while the party actually concerned was apparently unaware of their presence." (Aaronic Priesthood, p101)
- Elder Dallin H. Oaks stated that the ministering of angels can occur through personal appearances and "can also be unseen. Angelic messages can be delivered by a voice or merely by thoughts or feelings communicated to the mind. … Most angelic communications are felt or heard rather than seen." (Ensign, Nov 1998, p39).
- All members of the Church can enjoy this great blessing through the ministrations of the Aaronic Priesthood.
- Elder Dallin H. Oaks: "Through the Aaronic Priesthood ordinances of baptism and the sacrament, we are cleansed of our sins and promised that if we keep our covenants we will always have His Spirit to be with us. I believe that promise not only refers to the Holy Ghost but also to the ministering of angels, for ‘angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ’ (2 Nephi 32:3). So it is that those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood open the door for all Church members who worthily partake of the sacrament to enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels." (Ensign, Nov 1998, p39)
I know that abe was protected and we felt comforted!!!!
all of this reminded me of one of my favorite conference talks--about angels protecting us.
read elder holland's talk here
anyway, i had all of this on my mind as i went to church and guess who was in our ward that day??? sitting on the stand was elder holland! abe passed the sacrament to him! it made everything i was thinking about even more meaningful. pretty cool experience.
when abe turned twelve, i made this sign for him. my sister-in-law took a picture of it and sent it to me while we were in the hospital.
i believe it.
abe shared with me this scripture he read the other day.
But behold, the life of my servant shall
be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt
him, although he shall be marred because of them.
Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that
my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.
the last couple weeks, months have been eventful... sometimes overwhelming, yet awesome. i'm grateful for the reminder that we have help. it's made me want to strive to be His servant and then trust that our lives will be in His hands.
