Please, please pray

[Mama Bear]

My friend, a regular poster on the boards, is at the beach with her five kids and husband. The two oldest boys were ahead of them on their bikes. They've been missing for about 40 minutes.

The police are searching. There aren't many people around, the trail is only about six miles long, the boys are very good about not getting too far away.

Please pray. I'll post more as I hear more.

[missplacedalaskan]

Oh, no! Will be praying here.

[JudoMom]

Praying, praying, praying MamaBear.

[sdWTMer]

Oh my goodness, how positively scary! I always worry about something like that in the back of my mind! Hopefully, their safe somewhere!

[Lisa at Home]

Praying fervently.

[Joanne]

Praying.

[Quiver0f10]

oh my, praying!!

[TraciWA]

Praying

[Mama Lynx]

Praying here, too.

[Debbie in IL]

Praying here.

[Kathleen in VA]

Definitely praying here - how old are the boys?

[Mama Bear]

Hallelujah, huh?

They went too far, realized they were lost and went to the library (in the next town) to ask for help. The police are on their way to pick them up and return them to their still shaking parents.

I gotta go burn off some adrenaline...

[laylamcb]

Golly. Every parent's nightmare. But what a happy ending! :001_smile:

[She]

Praise God! (sign of relief too!)

[Quiver0f10]

Thanks for the update. PTL that they are safe.

[Camy]

Praise God!

[sdWTMer]

Oh, thank God! I'm so thrilled that they were found safe and that they can enjoy their vacation at the beach still!

[Amy in Orlando]

I'm so happy to read they're ok and were so level-headed!

[Doran]

Hallelujah, huh?

They went too far, realized they were lost and went to the library (in the next town) to ask for help. The police are on their way to pick them up and return them to their still shaking parents.

I gotta go burn off some adrenaline...


Happy news is so much gentler on the spirit, no? :001_smile: I'm so glad it all worked out, and hope you've had a chance to relax down from your adrenaline rush. Yikes!

[Plaid Dad]

Thank goodness! I only just saw this now, but I would have been beside myself.

[Sarah CB]

Praying they are found soon.

[LauraGB]

Oh, I'm so glad they are safe! My breath caught when I read the original post - relief with the update. That poor family - so much to be grateful for tonight!

[Mama Lynx]

Hallelujah, huh?

They went too far, realized they were lost and went to the library (in the next town) to ask for help. The police are on their way to pick them up and return them to their still shaking parents.

I gotta go burn off some adrenaline...

Oh, thank goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pencil Pusher]

Hallelujah, huh?

They went too far, realized they were lost and went to the library (in the next town) to ask for help. The police are on their way to pick them up and return them to their still shaking parents.

I gotta go burn off some adrenaline...

Oh, I was praying that they were just lost & that they'd be found easily. Whew. Thanks for the good news!

[Rhonda in WA]

I said a prayer when I read the first post then kept reading down. Thank God!

[threetreasurs]

So glad it ended well.

[sleepy]

Oh, I'm so glad they're safe! My heart almost stopped.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Praise God that they were found!

[Staci in MO]

:)

[missplacedalaskan]

Praise the Lord!
I am so thankful the kids are safe.

[Rose in BC]

My heart was pounding thinking of how distressed those parents must have been. So happy they're all safe.

[Karenciavo]

Oh man I know the feeling. I'm so glad everything worked out.

[Natalieclare]

M--if you are reading this, please email me! I don't know why but your email is not turning up on my computer. You were almost phoned at a ridiculously late hour because of my selfish need to hear you be *alright*.

So glad, so glad, so glad that all is well.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: :grouphug::grouphug:

[Tammy in Germany]

Thank goodness this ended well for all! :grouphug:

[fivetails]

Hallelujah, huh?

They went too far, realized they were lost and went to the library (in the next town) to ask for help. The police are on their way to pick them up and return them to their still shaking parents.

I gotta go burn off some adrenaline...

Oh good - glad to see this update!

Smart kids, to go somewhere like a library (public, and with "authority" type people who often work with/assist children, not just random strangers along the road) to ask for help. :)

[Elisabeth in IL]

I'm coming at this late but I'm so glad that they were found together and safe. My boys scare me sometimes with the possibility of trouble (this includes trips to public bathrooms) but I'm hoping that they will always stick together and be safe.

[TraciWA]

Oh, thank the Lord! I know how that feels to lose a child. I have stories.;)

[Mom24bz1g]

We were at Long Beach and headed out on a trail. The older boys (11 and 13) usually go ahead of us. When they haven't seen (by looking back) us for awhile, they pull over and wait for us to catch up.

They pulled over, but went a little ways towards the ocean. They waited for us to catch up, but they didn't see us so they assumed we had passed them without seeing them or them seeing us.

What they didn't know was that we had stopped (hubby, 2 sons, dd and I) because the trail went from paved to rocky to huge rocks. That is hard to do with S (4yodd) on the back of my bicycle. Hubby caught up to 9yo son (he was within sight, but not hearing because the waves were so loud), told him to turn around and went on to catch up to two older sons.

When 9yo came back to me we started walking (8yo son usually rides with hubby on a hitchhiker, but had stayed with me so hubby could make good time catching up to older sons) back towards our vehicle. Around 20 minutes passed without hubby coming back so I already knew there was a problem. I didn't have my cell phone with me so couldn't call and see what the problem was.

Another 10 minutes passed and hubby came screaming to a halt next to me explaining that he couldn't find older sons. I took the keys, hubby headed back up the trail, I headed to vehicle to see if they somehow were there.

They weren't. I called hubby one more time. He was wayyyyy past where we had left off, back on to pavement. His cell phone was in and out so he just screamed "no" to questions.

I had passed a police officer and took my two kids (so I could make better time hubby had taken 8yo with him again) to his car and sobbed out that we couldn't find the boys. He got descriptions and mobilized beach units, town units, etc very quickly. Told me to go back to vehicle to wait just in case they came back. I was terrified. I called Mamabear around this time, sobbing hysterically, barely able to get out what had occurred.

Another officer came and talked to me. I told him I was hoping this would just be a situation where the boys screwed up. He was just explaining how the trails fork off (I hadn't gone that far) and the boys were hopefully just lost. He said that another officer in another town had seen two boys that fit their description and was going to investigate. At this time my cell phone rang and it was the librarian from the next town over.

I gave the phone to the officer (while my body just started shaking from relief). He said he would go get them because I didn't know where to go and I didn't have our bicycles loaded, etc. etc. I told him to just bring the boys here, but leave their bikes and if they were stolen then so be it. He said, "No, I think I can fit them in here." He was very, very nice.

I called hubby who had already been called. He had biked up and down the 6 -10 miles over and over looking for the boys. We knew (the police assured us) that it was a very good sign that hubby had not found the boys bicycles.

The officer arrived around 20 minutes later with the two very shaken boys. We (including the officer) all had tears in our eyes. By that time, I didn't care about anything but that they were okay and back with me. The boys filled the officer in on our homeschooling. Turns out he is pro-homeschooling and stayed and talked to us for about another 30 minutes.

When the boys didn't see us pass them they took off at break-neck speed, "trying to catch up". Eventually (yes, there were forks in the trail) they realized they were totally lost. They went to a business (which turned out to be the library) and asked (someone who works there) to use their phone to call their dad.

Believing that knowledge is power I have had the What To Do If You Become Lost discussions, etc, with the boys. While they were very scared, they also stayed together (we had drilled this into them over and over) and found a business and did exactly what we would have hoped.

I told them that it's not really what happened, it's what they did once a problem arose. As far as I am concerned they did everything perfectly from that moment on.

We had gone to Long Beach to celebrate my birthday. The day had been filled with one thing after the other going wrong. I told them that the best birthday present I could've had was to just hold them in my arms again.:grouphug:

Incidentally, by the time we got to Long Beach, got lost, found the boys, the day was over. We didn't get to go bicycling (if we had gone the other way the trail was paved the whole way), fly kites or go wade in the water. We will be going back tomorrow to attempt to re-capture the "fun". This time EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US will have a newly bought walkie-talkie on their person.:iagree:

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Incidentally, by the time we got to Long Beach, got lost, found the boys, the day was over. We didn't get to go bicycling (if we had gone the other way the trail was paved the whole way), fly kites or go wade in the water. We will be going back tomorrow to attempt to re-capture the "fun". This time EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US will have a newly bought walkie-talkie on their person.:iagree:

Oh, how utterly frightening! I'm so glad things turned out well.

Don't forget to be extra gentle to yourself for the next little while. You will need some time to process all this.

:grouphug: