Page 34 of Cabin Fever With My First Flame

Love,

Finn"

Once again, Finn only wants to see others free from pain. He’s a hero through and through. “That was…I have no words, Finn.” He smiles at me.

“My turn!” Jonah declares. He opens the letter in his hand and starts reading.

"Dear God,

I don’t have much to ask, but I have so much to be thankful for. I thank You for my Mom and my sisters. I thank You for my Dad. I thank you for letting us get stuck in a storm so that I could make new friends. I thank You for bringing a smile to my mom’s face. It’s been so long since I’ve seen it. Mom says I’m too young to know what’s going on, but I’m not. I see it. I also see how Finn makes her face light up just by walking into the room. I know what I should be praying for, but all I want is for my mom to be happy. Will you make that happen?

Your friend,

Mia"

That’s a pretty deep letter for a ten-year-old, but then again, Mia is wiser than her years. I can’t tell from her letter if she’s asking for a second chance between Finn and me or between her father and me. In the end, she’s simply asking for God’s will to be done. “I love you, Mia. You and your sisters make me very happy.”

Mia hugs me back. “I love you, too, Mom.”

“It’s your turn, Mia!” Ava says.

Mia reverently runs her finger under the seal and pulls out the sheet of paper.

"Dear God,

I want Finn and Bailey to get together.

The End,

Isaac"

Well, all right then. “That was short, sweet, and to the point,” I tell him.

We continue to read the notes aloud, with both Micah and Ella asking that Finn and I take a leap for love. In my letter, I ask God to keep everyone safe through the snowstorm and to protect the workers who are braving the cold so that people can have electricity and heat to stay warm.

Finn is the last to go, and Ava’s letter is the only one left. I pull Ava into my lap as we listen to Finn read the note.

"Deer Jesus,

Can I pleez half a Barbie Jeep for Crismas?

Ava"

Finn shows us the letter, and I laugh. Ava is six and is learning to write out words based on how they sound to her little ears. There is a drawing at the bottom of the page of Christmas trees and a stick figure driving a box with two circles. She also drew snowflakes to decorate the letter.

“This is a masterpiece,” Finn tells her.

Ella folds her arms across her chest and narrows her eyes playfully at Ava. “I think you missed the point of the letters. We were supposed to ask for oneintangiblething from God.”

Ava frowns. “Well, I don’t know what that word means, and I really want a Barbie Jeep! Maybe there is one waiting for me at Pops’ and Nana’s house!”

And that’s our cue that we need to leave. Finn tells the boys to take quick showers and get ready while the girls and I get dressed and stuff everything in our backpacks. Once we’re ready to go, Finn leads us upstairs and shows us where we’ll be exiting. The snow drifts are piled high, reaching two feet below the window frame. “Every time I look out the window, I’m blown away by the amount of snow. I can’t thank you enough for taking us in. You and the boys saved our lives, and we’re forever in your debt.”

Finn and Micah strap on their snowshoes, and Micah goes out the window first. He starts walking around the house to get one of the ATVs that’s parked under the back deck. We would go out the mudroom door in the basement, but it, too, is blocked by snow since it’s on the side of the house.

“How come we don’t jump off the back porch?” Mia asks.

Finn crawls through the window, but before he leaves, he answers Mia’s question. “There isn’t as much snow on the backside of the house, and the distance is too great for you to jump safely. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. You mean too much to us. You all do.”

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