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It’s one of those mornings where it’s only 9:30am and I already feel like I need to go back to bed for a few hours. What a night! Noah went to sleep around 8:30pm as usual and woke up at 10pm with an ear ache (which he’s never had before). I tried everything I could to get him back to sleep in his bed (even rocked him & sung to him) but NOTHING worked. I took him downstairs and put the Wiggles on TV (which always makes him happy) but he was still miserable. Every time I tried to put him down or leave his side he was even more hysterical. After awhile I FORCED some paracetomol down him to help relieve his pain. He gagged on it (as he usually does) and threw up. Eventually we ended up in bed together and he woke every half an hour crying, pulling on his ear and kicking me. FINALLY at 4am he fell into a deep enough sleep for me to put him in his cot. Tony slept through the whole night and wouldn’t respond to my 2 or 3 pleas for help. I then got up at 7am to get Hayden and Ashton ready for the day while Tony slept in. Did I say in my last post that I love my wonderful husband!!!!!! He he. Like any wife I was on the grumpy side when Tony decided to get up, but fortunately he redeemed himself with giving me a hug and apologizing. Maybe I should tell him that’s not enough and request some chocolate cake or flowers…..he he.

We have a problem in our home (actually we have many ). Noah talks non-stop now (he seldom has a quiet moment) and Ashton continues to talk non-stop as he has done for the past 2 years. I didn’t think our house could get any noisier, but it definitely has. It is a little funny to see how annoyed and frustrated Noah and Ashton get at each other when they are both trying to talk at the same time and the other won’t be quiet.

It is seldom that I am affected by TV News to the point where I wake up during the night and am continuously thinking about the event, but this past week there was a tragedy that hit close to home and really did affect me.
About a week ago, a mother on the South side of Auckland was trying to fix a washing machine while her two yr old was playing in the front yard. The little girl named, Aisling (pronounced Ashling) started to wander and follow some ducks to a neighbours house. A few minutes later she was absolutely no where to be found and for 1 whole week the family and everyone in NZ was under the assumption that someone had taken her.

I was probably one of thousands of people who spent the whole week wondering if she was being feed, if her nappy was getting changed and if she was crying for her Mummy. Her parents were obviously completely distraught and longing for their little girl to be returned.

As I turned the boys’ bedroom light out on Thursday night after they were asleep I realized how fortunate and lucky I was that my children were sound asleep and safe in their beds. It’s something that we (or I) take for granted every night. I was so so grateful to see them sleeping so peacefully and all I could think of were Aislings parents who were probably staring at her bedroom and cot just wishing she was their.

On Sunday afternoon Aisling was still missing and if it hadn’t been General Conference I would have given in to the urge to get in my car, drive over the bridge, and help look for her, as many other volunteers were doing.

Her disappearance was all over the news and papers as abduction in NZ is rare. I discussed Ashling’s disappearance with Hayden and he started to ask me lots of questions. On Sunday night when I tucked him in to bed and said goodnight, he called me back to his bed with a worried look on is face. He was really concerned that Aisling would not be able to pray for herself since she was only two.

Ashling’s parents went to a prayer meeting on Monday night with their local pastor and then moments after police told them that they had discovered Ashling’s body down a storm water drain, just one house over from where she went missing. The man-hole had been checked 3 times, even by the father and with a special police camera, but it was impossible for anyone to know she was in there because she had been washed down the underground pipes for 36 metres. Since police had no leads on who might have taken her, they decided to start digging the pipes up and 5 hrs after digging and breaking up concrete they found her body. She had fallen into the manhole since there had been heavy rain on Monday which caused the cover to move from the water pressure. Police say that the autopsy revealed she drowned.

I’m not sure why I’m writing this story, or even where I’m going with it, but it has been a big part of my week, as it has for most NZ’s. I can’t even begin to imagine how Ashling’s parents feel. They spent a whole week not sleeping or eating, and waiting by the phone hoping that police were calling to say they had found her. Their pain at the moment must almost be unbearable and there isn’t anything that anyone can do to take it away. One can only hope that through their faith they have knowledge of the plan of salvation and eternal life. It’s tradgedy’s such as this one, that cause you to think and realise that there must be more to mortal life than simply getting a body and dying. God must have created Adam and Eve for more of a purpose than that. God cannot control everything that happens on earth, but he can offer comfort and peace and the promise of Families being together Forever in the Spirit world. I have a constant prayer in my heart that Ashling’s parents are feeling some comfort from our Father in Heaven that one day they will get the opportunity to see their little girl again.