Babysitting in the dark

Tonight was the adult session of Stake Conference. (For all of my loyal readers who have no idea what that means -- at church every 6 months they have a big meeting that involves several congregations -- in the Mormon world a congregation is called a ward and a bunch of wards are called a stake-- thus the name -- Stake Conference --but really this is all very unimportant to the story -- what matters is that Trent and I both went to this meeting).

We had a very, very hard time finding a babysitter. Trent kept volunteering to stay home and let me go and I kept trying to find a babysitter. I gave up and finally called on my dear sweet mom to see if she would drive out here and watch her 4 sweet grandchildren. Naturally, she said, "Yes of course I would love to" or something like that and proceeded to arrive a half hour later so Trent and I could go.

We have been sitting in the meeting for approximately 5 minutes when Trent's cell phone starts buzzing and I can see that it is my Mom's cell phone calling.

Now, that will put panic into the heart of anyone. My Mom is amazing and she can handle anything, so I am thinking horrible things must have happened that she had to call us in the middle of a church meeting.

I am running out of the meeting and quietly whisper, "Hello . . ."

"Where are your flashlights?" My mom says.

"What??? Is everyone OK???" I am baffled that she want my flashlights.

"Oh, we're fine, but the power is out and it is getting dark and the kids are kind of freaking out and crying . . . hysterically every now and then."

And that's when it hits me . . . Do we even own a flashlight? If so, where is it???? And are there batteries in it? Suddenly I remember the emergency radio, light, flashlight thingy that I am pretty sure my Mom gave me one year. I always put it in the nightstand by my bed just in case of emergencies like this one. But as I have never had an emergency like this one, I don't even know if it works. I tell her where to look and . . . . it worked!!!!!!!

This is when I am so glad my Mom is with the kids, my kids are great, but they can get a little panicky sometimes and they excel at getting scared easily . . . I am just not sure a teenager would have survived -- We would have been on our way home immediately. But . . .

My Mom had it all under control. The kids bathed in the moonlight. Pretended they were camping, read stories on Mom and Dad's bed (that is until the light started dimming -- see I knew the batteries were OLD) and both Adam and Madelyn fell asleep. (Adam is expected, but Madelyn falling asleep with any babysitter even Granny is pretty amazing). My Mom did explain that they had to move as a pack, with only 1 light, no one was about to get left in the dark, so they were all really close. It was a great bonding experience.

The lights came on an hour or so later and we got home a little after that.

Julianne and Catherine (although a little scared while going through the lights out) are sure proud to have survived such hardships.

Adam and Madelyn are still asleep . . . losing power has its rewards.

Maybe the next time we go out, we'll cut the power . . . Heck, we'll cut it every night!