Circle the wagons

When the pioneers would stop for the night, one would hear the captain yell "Circle the Wagons!!!!!". They would arrange their wagons in a circle. This was done for protection from the known/unknown forces that would savage them from the world. A bon-fire as well as individual fires would be buit and there would be "much merry making at night with fiddles and other types of musings."

When life gets full and Mom gets frazzled at the Williams' home. You can often hear her say. "Circle the wagons." Meaning we are plucking out the good and refocusing on family and priorities.

I taught my lesson today ( Good Better Best)and I want to remember this Tender Mercy in my life, so bear with me.

Alex has obviously a mutant gene and is athletic. He plays way too a many sports. It was getting at him. This weekend he was to have LAX practice-even though there was no school. We told him he couldn't go, because it was youth conference.

OHHHHHHHHHHHH the fit began, because he would miss practice. If he missed practice, he would not be eligible to play in 2 games. He is a starter, and his Coach was pressuring him. Too bad, right?Seems easy. No t wasn't easy-he had made a commitment to the team. The team counted on him. He had had bad experiences at Youth Conference before- where he came home sick for at least weeks after. but we forced him to go. We sent him and told him to follow ALL the rules.

He tried to sneak his cell phone,but I caught him and he was forced by his Mom to turn it over to a leader. He did.

I fasted and prayed that Alex would be able to have an experience where he felt the Spirit and was able to reconnect with his church friends and priorities. There has been hurtful drama in his life recently. In the last week or so I have on several occasions tempted to flash my mother bear claws at certain individuals, but watched my son suffer. I, of course wanted to fix everything and make it better, but I had to ( unsuccessfully at times) bite my tongue.

I prayed he would "circle his own personal wagons."

This year the Stake rented the Seneca Lake Camp,separated the kids into "families" and planed a great weekend. One of the things included an 8.?? hike around the lake. The trek was to mimic the westward exodus.

It is sunny here in NY, but the high has been 32F, if we are lucky.

Alex was put in a "family." These were kids that he kinda knew, but he wouldn't call friends. They lived together all weekend( well not totally).

One of the girls in his family was from our ward. I love her. She is sooooooooooooooo funny. She has her own fashion sense and can make anything work-even boas. I love her, and she is VERY spirited, but her and Alex are not really "friends." Mostly due to age.

On the trek, this girl, Tori, was told to pretend she broke her leg. Back in that time, out in the wilderness, this would have been a death sentence. It was discussed and my son...... gulp.

ok here is where I am grabbing the tissues.....

My son was leaving no one behind.


He picked up Tori, and carried her over 1.5 miles.

As a result of this decision on the Trek- and he knew this might happen when he decided to carry her- he lost his life(symbolically).

He chose to carry her knowing that he might die because of the hardship it would have been on his body.

My son didn't care. He was not leaving his family behind.

He knew that if he died he would be given a sheet to represent he was dead and that he would be able to continue the trek as a guardian angel- insuring his "family" all made it safely to the Valley or to their "eternal home."

He had what he needed and what I wanted.

It is rumored that he actually THANKED his leader for taking his cell away so that he could "interact with people."