The Story of the Lost Ring

Here is the story I promised yesterday about losing and finding my engagement ring. We had gone to a bigger park in the area to have our family pictures taken. After walking all around the park for about an hour we got in the van to go home. Before we drove away I realized I was only wearing my wedding band, my engagement ring wasn't there. It had been a chilly evening and the ring must have slid off my finger sometime during the pictures. We did a quick search of the van and the parking area, no ring. Mr. Cherry ran back through the park checking the areas we had been, no ring. We decided to head home for the night without the ring.

We really didn't know where to start. Do we file a claim with the police department? Does our home owner's insurance cover this sort of thing. Should I post a listing on Craigslist Lost and Found Board?
After mulling it over throughout the evening and night, we decided we would head back to the park the next day. We rented a metal detector and bought a leaf rake. Cream fell asleep on the way there, so Mr. Cherry and Peachy set out first. While they started looking, I contacted our photographer to see if she had the time to look through the pictures and see if she could see my ring in any of them. I figured we might be able to narrow down where I lost it a little bit.

Mr. Cherry started at the most obvious place to look. The most obvious and also the hardest. On the leaf covered hillside where we had made a huge pile of leaves and thrown them at each other. When I arrived with Cream he and Peachy were raking the area that they remembered us sitting in. I tried my luck at the metal detector, but quickly found out why Mr. Cherry had opted for the rake. The detector would go off at every little scrap of metal.

After about an hour of raking, Mr. Cherry said, "I found it!" And he had!!! There laying on the ground among the leaves was my ring. We were so happy!! We put that baby back on my hand and celebrated by playing in all of the leaves we had raked!!

I was missing it for less than 24 hours, but the thought of never having it again made me feel sick. I knew we could get a new ring, but that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted my old ring back. The ring that Mr. Cherry had presented to me on the night he asked me to be his wife. The ring that I wore the year we spent engaged and preparing to get married. The ring that I wore throughout our first years of marriage. The ring I wore to the hospital when each of our children were born. The ring I plan to wear the rest of my life.
I know that the ring is simply a symbol, but it is a symbol that means so much to me. I truly feel blessed that the Lord allowed us to find it again. It was the answer to my prayers.

These pictures were taken during our celebration!