A highlight of the trip for Abby was our stop in St. Elmo on Monday where we were able to feed the chipmunk colony. Abby loved her time with those little critters and was secretly hopeful she would be able to return sometime later in the trip.

On Wednesday morning, as Abby ate breakfast, she overheard talk about what we might do that day, which included consideration of a trail that went over to St. Elmo. While we eliminated that hike for that day, the name St. Elmo was in the discussion because that is the direction the trail headed. Abby heard the word St. Elmo and thought we were going back.

Then during the hike that we took on Wednesday, Abby was being carried on her daddy’s back. She said to him, “You have one happy little girl.” When asked why, she said that she had heard talk about going back to St. Elmo and she was one excited little girl.

So her Daddy said to her, “Abby, we don’t have any plans to go back to St. Elmo. We talked about a trail that goes that direction, but that isn’t what we are doing today. It was too far for us to go.”

Abby was very disappointed. Later when Melanie learned of Abby’s disappointment in not returning to St. Elmo, Melanie suggested they pray about it.

Everyone greatly wanted to please Abby’s heart so Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, when the little girls were asleep, we discussed ways to hike and go back to St. Elmo. Nathan and Dad made a plan for just that.

The plan was talked about among the adults during breakfast time and again Abby was listening. Abby’s blue eyes sparkled and her face brightened. She exclaimed, “There was no plan, but now there is a plan!”

Later, she told her mommy, “God told Daddy to go to St. Elmo, and Daddy obeyed God.”

After arriving at St. Elmo Thursday morning, it was very chilly, and the chipmunks were hardly around to eat. Instead of crying and being disappointed, Abby accepted it with a sweet attitude. We hiked, and then came back to try again. This time, the chipmunks were very active and very happy to be fed.

Joseph enjoyed taking pictures; in fact, that guy actually captured over four hundred pictures in a short span of time. As Abby fed chipmunk after chipmunk, I occasionally heard her little voice exclaim, “We’ve got business!” (an expression borrowed from Uncle Joseph)

Later on, when asked how long she fed them? “For hours and hours!”

Abby’s spirit was a lesson to her aunt on my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Think about it. Abby wanted something and instead of pushing and begging her daddy, she prayed, and waited. How often, with the Lord, am I wanting something and not patient enough to wait for His answer? Or, if it’s a “no” am I unhappy about it? Do we want anything less than God’s best for our lives?

Love,
Sarah

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”
–Matthew 6:26