A Treasury of Miracles for Women Read Online Free PDF Page A

happened to our good weather?” Jason asked as they spilled from their tent, stretched, and began preparing breakfast on the cold, wet picnic table.
    Kathy wrinkled her nose and stared at the sky. “I hope it clears up. Yesterday was so nice, I was looking forward to getting back to the lake.”
    The weather seemed to darken even Jason's mood, but the children remained happy and upbeat, playing hide-and-seek amidst the dripping trees and finding special pine cones. Despite the cold clouds and light drizzling rain, after breakfast the Hesters pulled their fishing gear together and headed for a nearby stream. As they fished the thunder and lightning returned and rain fell harder than before.
    “Aren't the monsoons supposed to be a nighttime thing?” Kathy slipped her hood on and grimaced at the sky.
    “Yeah, they usually pass in an hour or so.” Jason began packing up his fishing gear. “This one seems like it's going to be around awhile.”
    They headed back to the campground in their van and asked the ranger about the weather.
    “Report just in says steady rain all day today and through the night,” the ranger said. Then he grinned. “One good thing about a storm is it keeps the bears away.”
    “Yeah,” Kathy mumbled. “Great. I think I'd take bears and a little sunshine over this.”
    The Hesters sat in their van as the rain pounded their windshield. When forty minutes passed and still the rain continued, they made a dash for the tent, which had two separate rooms.
    “Why don't we have lunch in here and then play card games?” Jason said. The kids shouted their approval and Kathy began making sandwiches on damp paper plates.
    “Fun vacation.” Kathy mumbled her complaint, noticing the muddy tent floor and the way the two youngest children were shivering.
    The rain fell for three hours while they stayed in the tent playing cards, telling stories, and trying to stay warm. Finally, Jason looked at Kathy and stuck his hand outside the tent.
    “The rain's let up a little. Why don't we see about getting a fire started? We'll need one if we're ever going to dry out.”
    Despite their wet clothes, the children continued to play while Kathy and Jason worked on the fire.
    “We really need to get the fire going,” Kathy said. “Tonight's hot dogs over the pit. I'm not much for cold hot dogs on an afternoon like this.”
    Jason nodded. “I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be warm again. Everything I brought is wet and it's getting colder all the time.”
    They weren't in danger, but the thrill of the trip had worn off for both of them and they worked feverishly trying to ignite the wood.
    “It isn't wet, just damp.” Jason clenched his teeth and lit another piece of kindling. “If only we could get it to catch.”
    Kathy had been wadding up newspapers and stuffing them alongside the logs, then using the lighter to ignite the newspaper and hoping that the burst of flames would set the wood on fire. But after an hour of working side by side, the couple had created only a great deal of smoke and even more frustration.
    Since the rain was still falling lightly onto the fire pit, there seemed to be no way to get the wood dry enough for the kindling to do any good.
    “I'll get an umbrella,” Jason said. “Maybe that'll help.”
    He found one in the van and brought it to the fire pit. There, he opened it and held it over the wood. “Now try and light it,” he said.
    Kathy continued to pack dry newspaper pieces in around the wood while she directed their ten-year-old son to hunt for dry pine needles to add to the kindling. Kathy lit every visible piece of newspaper, blowing as she worked. From his vantage point above her, the umbrella in one hand, Jason also blew on the smoking newspapers.
    The two of them, sometimes stumbling over one an other, worked frantically on the fire while another hour passed. During that time, Megan and their seven-year-old son, Luke, slipped out of the tent and began watching. They