Laura's Special Day

This Wednesday we had one of the most unique and spiritual experiences I have ever had. We got to attend the Young Women’s Recognition Night for Danny’s sister, Laura. For those of you who don’t know Laura, you really should know about her. She has changed so many lives. Laura was involved in a family car accident when she was 10 years old. She is lucky to be alive and we are lucky to have her. She cannot speak, she is in a wheelchair and is physically handicapped. Laura is in Young Womens in her ward and they have an AMAZING set of leaders and young women in their ward. They have been such a blessing to Laura and SHE has been such a blessing to them.

The Young Women President in Laura’s ward had an experience with Laura that she shared at the Young Women in Excellence Night. She said that back in August, Laura made it very clear to her through the Spirit that Laura wanted to earn her YW medallion. After looking through the booklet, they realized that each of the experiences and projects that needed to be done could be done through proxy. She said there had to be 3 rules to this. 1) That everything had to be voluntarily. 2). That it had to be kept a SECRET because Danny's parents were SURPRISED the night of the event! (Of course the rest of the family had been tipped off, and we were all there) and 3). That none of the time that was spent on Laura's projects could also go towards their own goals. The young women in her ward rallied together and tackled the task. With only 10 weeks to go, they did it! It was so awesome to listen to the YW President talk about how the heavens were opened and she was able to witness miracles. Many of the young women were given the chance to speak about their experience with helping Laura earn her medallion. I got chills just listening to how much it had affected them for good and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the building.

The Stake President thought the idea was so great that he contacted The New Era and the Church News about the event. That was just the beginning. They had TWO women from the General Young Women Board and the 2^nd counselor from the General Young Women Presidency (President Monson’s daughter) show up as well. All of them were so eager to meet Laura and the girls that had helped make this night so special. I can only imagine what it must have been like for those girls to feel so good about what they did to serve Laura. Ann Dibb (President Monson’s daughter) was invited to share some thoughts and when she got up to speak it was so apparent that she was saying the very words that the Savior would have said to those young women. She was quoting scripture and I could tell that she was the Lord’s mouth piece at that moment. It was such a beautiful experience to be a part of.

I thought to myself about what a miracle the entire process was—and to think that if Laura’s YW President had not acted on that prompting, none of it would have happened. I am grateful that she was in tune and willing to serve.

As a relatively new member to the White Family, I have always been impressed by watching Laura & Amy interact with their SIX brothers. There is something very special about the Whites. I’m so lucky to be a part of a family whose goal is to return to return to live with Heavenly Father someday (because we know without a doubt that Laura will be there!) Laura has such a beautiful smile and lights up a room. She is happy and kind and loves to laugh. I feel very blessed to know Laura and to get to spend time with her. There really are angels among us—and she is one of them.

I took a lot of pictures...so enjoy! (p.s. I need to confess that I stole 3 of these from the YW President's blog...please don't sue me).

The theme was DOTS. Depend on the Savior. Hello! Isn't that cute?! Everything was polka dots and they even gave dots candy out to each girl who won an award.

Laura with the girls.

Sister Dibb speaking.



Laura was doing her signature thumbs up!

We got to go up while Laura was presented with her medallion.

This little flower pot had flowers with petals on it that the girls made for Laura. Each petal has the name of the girl and what project she did for Laura.

Amy & Laura

The cake Danny made for Laura.

I just love these pictures. I love Laura's smile.

I had to include both of these so as to showcase open eyes from each brother that was there :) We missed you Brian and Em!

And last, but not least...this was how Cole spent the evening. He was a little terror. (And I say that with all the love in my heart). It's still so hard for him to sit still for over 5 seconds. I don't know HOW we are going to handle Sunbeams in a couple of months...