Our Sweet Joshua Boy

We had the most fun summer ever.  Aaron had his sabbatical from work, and so had two months paid time off to spend with us.  We spent every free minute playing.  We saw Crater Lake, visited multiple hot springs..with lots of naked hippies, went to Hawaii (while the kids played with Aunt Kelly for 4 days), got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house and lots lots more.  We took a trip to Colorado to visit Grandma Carrot and Grandpa and my siblings and their spouses.  We had lots of fun finding adventures there too.  We went up to Trail Ridge Road to drive on the highest paved road in the Universe!  Later on that day we took a walk in the cute little mountain town near Trail Ridge called Estes Park.  We stopped to let the kids throw rocks in the rushing river nearby.  Noah, being Noah got too close and got wet up to the knee on one of his pant legs.  I warned him to watch it so he didn't take a swim with all the fishes.  Not two minutes later and we heard Arwen scream, "Noah is drowning!!"  Sure enough, he had been swept downstream by the rushing current.  I yelled to Aaron to jump in, knowing he could get to him quicker.  Poor Arwen was pretty hysterical by the time Aaron dragged Noah out. I have to admit that it was pretty scary to think of losing one of my babies.  But, Aaron saved him, Noah was fine and we had more time to enjoy his shenanigans.  A little while after it happened, Joshua said to me, "If you lost your Noah, you would only have a Jelly Bean left."  At the time, Joshua had been calling himself Jelly Bean and he, being just 3, understood that if Noah had been lost, we would only have our sweet Joshua boy.

Fast Forward a few months to Thanksgiving.  We took a trip down to California to visit Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Willy.  The kids had so much fun playing with all their cousins, Grandma's chickens and spending time running around outside in the nice weather.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving, a bunch of us took a trip to San Francisco.  We had two vans and two cars full of people.  We decided to stop in China Town first to get some candy.  If you've never been to China Town, it's quite the experience.  First of all, it's in San Francisco which is full of all those super steep, sometimes windy roads.  China Town, being somewhat like China, I'm sure has about 7 million tiny shops crammed into a few blocks of the big city.  Every shop there crams about 7 million things into their tiny shops.  It is kind of overwhelming.  Then, to top it all off, there are like 7 million Chinese people pushing their way past you to get to their favorite little shop to buy 7 million year old miso to make their yummy soup.  Hardly any of the people speak English which is somewhat comical when they hand you a coupon to one of the shops or restaurants and then try and explain to you what it is for, or where it is located.  At least I think that is what they are trying to explain.  Perhaps they are telling me what the gender of my next kid will be or how many kids they predict I am going to have.  I have no idea.  Anyways, after splitting up and doing a little shopping for yummy Chinese gummy candies and greasy, fatty duck, we all started to head back to the parking garage.  We stopped in a shop that definitely had some American influence because it was not the size of a postage stamp and things were not crammed into every tiny corner of space available.  It even had two floors full of merchandise for all of us tourists to buy.  The kids were busy looking at all the rocks with Chinese characters carved into them, I was looking at the little dresses and outfits and everyone else was looking at whatever caught their fancy.  Larkin was wailing from her stroller so Aaron took her from me and told me he was going to take her for a walk outside.  After a minute I looked up to take a count of all the kids.  I noticed that Joshua was not with them and half assumed and half hoped that he had followed Aaron.  Aaron returned about 10 minutes later and I immediately asked him if Joshua was with him.  He wasn't.  I felt sick to my stomach.  Joshua was lost...and in this crazy town fully of 7 million people who don't speak English and tiny little shops that would take forever to search.  Aaron and the rest of the adults...Grandma and Grandpa, Matthew and Bethany, James, Meghan and Joshua started to search the store we were in and all the surrounding stories.  I stayed and kept a close watch on all the other kids.  Larkin was still whining, and all the other kids were playing in the water fountains and begging for rocks with Chinese characters carved into them.  I looked down and the kids and asked Arwen and Noah to say a prayer that we could find their little brother.  I silently offered one myself.  Noah said the sweetest little prayer, full of faith and love.  I think everyone had searched for about 5 minutes when Marsha came back and asked if I thought it was time to call the police.  It had been 15 minutes since anyone had last seen him and due to where we were, I knew it was time.  So Marsha called and explained what was happening and put me on the phone to describe him.  "His name is Joshua Nielsen," I said.  In the back of my mind I thought, but if asked, he may tell someone his name is "Chlocate Factory", or perhaps, "Jelly Bean," or even "Gum."  I told the woman that he was 3 and that he had on a navy blue shirt and red pants.  She then asked his race.  "Caucasian," I told her.  At least he isn't Chinese, I thought.  That would surely make it easier to spot him, right?  She told me to stay put and they were sending the police.  I was somewhat stung...they didn't even know his hair or eye color and really anything about him.  It was about now that I had the thought that I had lost my Jelly Bean.  I was so scared.  I didn't want to cry because I was still with all the little kids and didn't want to scare them.  Besides, what good would that do?  I so badly wanted to go and look for him.  I was his mother and just knew that when no one else could find him, I could.  I'm the only one who can understand ALL of what the boy says.  I know all of his best hiding places for his blanket at nights when he goes to bed...usually in his toy box of hidden in a box that is normally used to hold treasures.  If a library book has gone missing, I just have to think like Joshua and can then find it hidden under one of the rugs.  It was the longest, most terrible time ever.

Grandpa came as I was about to hang up with 911.  He said that Joshua had been found.  I was frantic!  "Where is he??"  He was about a block up the hill, across a really busy street.  I told the 911 operator that he was found and ran to go and get him.  Uncle Matthew was holding him and talking to the two American ladies who had found him.  The police drove up just now...I don't know whether they had called him or not.  Maybe they did because he stopped where they were with Joshua.  Matthew was explaining to them that he was his uncle and I ran up and grabbed Josh and told the police that he was mine.  I'm not sure I even thanked the ladies that had found him and kept him safe.  I was just so glad to have Joshua back.  We all were.  I asked him where he had gone and he said, "I was going to see the cool stuff."  Then he said, "Why weren't you coming for me?"  It was so sad. 

Later on in the day, I was in the car with Bill and Marsha and Bill shared his experience with me.  He said that after searching for a bit, he offered a prayer and then turned and just knew where to go.  He crossed the street and found Joshua with the two women.  They wouldn't give Joshua to him, but that was okay, because he knew where Josh was and came back to get me.  Matthew found Joshua right after that.  The women gave Josh to him.  I have always been perturbed because relatives always comment on how much Joshua looks like uncle Matthew.  Perhaps because of the dark hair.  It drives me crazy because, duh, look at me!  I have the dark hair and eyes and Joshua looks just like my brother and dad.  But, I was grateful on this day because maybe these ladies saw some sort of resemblance and that was why they let Matthew hold him when they would not let Grandpa.  Joshua was safe with someone that loved him.

This whole ordeal didn't take very long, but it made me sit back and think about how special these little ones are that I have been given.  I am grateful for all of the humble, prayers full of faith offered that made it so we found Joshua so quickly.  I am thankful for family members so willing to help find a baby that wasn't theirs.  And mostly, I am thankful that I didn't lose my Jelly Bean.