lost and found, a.k.a. the worst experience I have ever had

My heart is full of gratitude to my Heavenly Father and to my friends Jamie and Emily for supporting and blessing me yesterday. While we were at the park Kevin disappeared and was lost for a very long time. The park is surrounded by woods, and we looked everywhere. I was sure he had drowned in the pond. Recently a man in NC died in a waterfall accident, and a family member's Facebook status said that he was "safe in the arms of our loving Heavenly Father." Now I felt sick at the thought of writing that about my own child. Emily insisted we would find him and wouldn't let me think of that possibility. Jamie offered to call the police, and I agreed it was time. When she told them it had been around 20 minutes since he disappeared I felt shocked that it had been so long and almost lost hope. (I later talked to her on the phone and she said she had been estimating pretty high because she wanted them to take her seriously and come right away, since in the past when she had to call them about foster children who ran away they would sometimes just tell her to call back in a few minutes.) We kept searching (Jamie stayed and watched all of our kids), and I was walking down a path sobbing, praying aloud, begging Kevin to come out or yell. I came back a little after the police arrived. Just as I had finished describing him to the police, Jamie said, "Oh, my goodness, there he is!" and Kevin came out of the woods from the path we had followed to get to the park from the car. He said he had been fixing the tire on the car. I couldn't believe it. I am so thankful that he came back and was safe. I kept thinking I didn't know how we could live without him.

When we went back to the car I found the left turn signal, the windshield wipers, and the lights on, and the seat was definitely adjusted, and the tire pressure gauge was sitting on the passenger seat, so he probably was playing in the van and at some point was "fixing" the tires. Emily had looked in the parking lot, so I'm guessing she couldn't see him because he was playing in the van. I know I locked the car, but I do remember thinking that I should check to make sure the sliding door on the other side had closed and dismissing the thought, so I'm guessing that's how he got in. But maybe it's a good thing he could get in so that he was safe in the van instead of wandering farther away. Emily invited us over to have lunch, which we did. I was so blessed to have my friends there to support me and be calm when I was falling apart. I can't describe to you how helpful they were for me. I am still working on getting over all the emotions. I prayed so many times for him to be returned to me, and I am grateful that Heavenly Father guided him back. Life would be so empty without Kevin. We are going to have to figure out a way to drill into this kid's head that he has to stay where he can see me.