Sadness

A couple of months ago I wrote about a sweet Burmese family we had the opportunity to meet. They were kind and generous and humble, and now they are grieving. A neighboring Burmese refugee family (they lived in the same apartment complex) lost a seven-year-old daughter a week ago. As I was driving Sam up to Solitude to meet Mike I saw the Amber alert on the sign at the mouth of the canyon. I thought to myself, Oh, no. The little girl was playing in front of her apartment. She was taken by a neighbor on Monday, March 31 and killed in his apartment, just 50 yards from her front door. She was found the next day. Another ward in our stake had adopted her family and had been collecting donations and visiting them, just as we have been doing with ours. Even though we hadn't met her family, it still felt personal because they are a close-knit group, and we knew how much of a loss they would be experiencing too. I can't imagine the anguish this poor family is feeling. It makes me cry to think of the terrible loss for her family, and also for the family of the accused (as I understand it, another refugee, only 21, who just recently arrived here). It makes me even more grateful for my little family. I feel extremely blessed to be able to stay home and play with my little boys every day. We talk, we laugh, we pretend. Such a blessing.