Equipped Child = Saved Child

We had been at Disney most of the day and we were tired, we were just going to see the parade, watch the fireworks and go home. It was dark and there were thousands of people around us. We had found a place to watch the parade when we found out that the parade wasn't going to even go by us.  So we moved.  As we moved forward, my 7-year-old niece Ashlee followed.  Unfortunately, she thought we had gone a certain way and we thought she was right with us.
We didn't notice for about 2 minutes because my husband and I wandered a little bit forward in a different direction, so we just thought she was with her uncle. When we gathered back and asked the others if they had seen her, our hearts dropped and we started getting desperate. I pushed through the crowds yelling her name.   I went to the front and asked everybody if they had seen her. It was hard to see much and it was loud.
My sister, Ashlee's mother, stayed with my baby and her two little ones, staying strong while Ashlee's dad, my husband and I searched the crowds.  I ran into a worker and notified him of the situation.  I was praying in my head "God, please keep her safe, PLEASE GOD please God, Please God, keep her safe. Help her to know what to do."  The worker immediately notified others and I then followed him to a phone where he called others. It was an eternity standing there. I wanted to be looking for my niece, my precious baby girl niece.
While he was on the phone, I ran to the headquarters where my sister was and she had moved. While I was running I was asking people if they had seen Ashlee.  Most of the people knew her name and were asking me as well and telling me they hadn't seen her yet. I headed to the baby-care center where lost children were kept and ran right past the group.  Luckily my husband saw me and and ran after me. "They found her," he said. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS of the night. We had lost her for a period of about 15 minutes. So what's the rest of the story. How did they find her in a thousand people, in the dark? Here it is...

Equipped Child = Lifesaving  

Her parents had a talk with Ashlee in the past that if she was to get separated, she should

1. Find a safe adult (adult that worked for the place she was in )
2. Give the adult her mommy's phone # so that the adult could find her mommy--they had had Ashlee memorize their phone #s

Ashlee did just that!  When she got separated, she walked up to a cast member, and told them she was lost. They immediately took her to the baby-care center, then they called her mommy's phone.  My hubby told Faith to turn on her phone and so when they called for her. She was able to talk to them her parents had in preparing their child for an emergency.  My heart still quivers at the story but it's been a learning experience that has taught me to teach my child what to do.  Equip your child, it could save their life or keep them out of danger! - rejoicing in the present