Fire Ants, Broken Flip-Flops & God in the Midst of Trial
August Recap:
I've tried to post a few times now and just hadn't been able to. The last several weeks were too intense. In fact I got physically sick when I tried to blog about it. Literally. Threw up. Yeah, that's bad.
August 20th was eventful.
3 years prior was the day Samuel was diagnosed with cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma).
But on this particular day, August 20, 2013, I was keeping my 2 year old niece Madison because my sister-in-law was giving birth to my new niece River Anne :)
I needed to get groceries and thought the kids would enjoy an outing. A trip to Target and then icedream at Chick-fil-A was the plan. Instead we had an adventure: getting attacked by fire ants outside in the parking lot of Target. Peter looked like he had a bucket of fire ants dumped on him. I rushed the kids inside and asked a manager who quickly called the paramedics.
It was eventful. We had about 7 Emergency vehicles blocking the whole entrance of Target. The bites were the worst on Peter. He had probably over 75 bites. Feet. Legs. Belly. Backside. Bottom. Arms and even neck. It was terrible. I was getting bitten all over my flip-flopped feet but I was too concerned with brushing the ants off of Peter.
I had to strip him of his clothes. He looked like he had red hives all over his body. His body was swelling significantly. I asked for Benadryl and the Target staff graciously accommodated. Michael & Samuel had some bites as well. They were crying and clutching me. I sat on the floor and held Peter in my lap with Samuel and Michael clinging to me for dear life. I was trying to keep them calm, telling them to focus on taking deep breaths.
Libby and Ian were hysterical. Poor kids. I don't think they knew what was happening. As terrible as this may sound I was just so incredibly thankful that Madison hadn't gotten bitten. I know that would have been terrifying for my brother and sister-in-law. Kristin just had a c-section an hour before the fire ant episode occurred. I couldn't imagine having to call them and tell them "Yeah, Madison is in the hospital..."
So we had ambulances and fire engines and police. I was talking with the EMTs and various firemen. It brought up all those traumatic times where we were rushed by ambulance to the children's hospital. It was kind of PTSD day. Nothing like seeing my kids in the back of an ambulance to get my heart pumping.
2 days later Peter gets stung on his finger by a wasp and his little finger turns into a sausage and his hand turns into the Pillsbury Dough Boy. So yeah, Benadryl, baking soda poultice pack, then ER.
So these were some of the larger stressors but sometimes it's when the little things that go wrong that I just fall apart. Like your favorite pair of flip-flop sandals snapping and breaking when you're out and you can't just go replace your shoes because you're not home.
Things just seem to keep happening.
Mike's part-time teaching job we thought was secure fell through. The plan HAD been that he would just teach 2 full days a week and work his other job but unfortunately they scheduled him to work in the middle of the day, every day of the week. So he had to turn the job down. It would keep him from working his current job at all.
It was very crushing and disappointing.
The new van we were recently given broke down. So once again we are back to owning one working vehicle. Such a bummer. Especially because our working car needs some major repair work.
The bus did not come the first two days of school for the twins. So we had to drive them. We waited an hour the first day and it was a no-show. Then the next day I only waited a half an hour before I decided to just bring them in again.
These things have worked themselves out now. Kids are in school and have adjusted rather well to their schedules. I'm still breathing. I actually have a little more time to get stuff done while the kids are gone for some of the day.
But I once gain realize how amazing it is that God gives us the grace for each day. He knows just what we need. He knows just when to have someone drop a starbucks gift card in my lap (Thanks A!) He knows just when I need a respite from the normal daily life grind.
I've tried to post a few times now and just hadn't been able to. The last several weeks were too intense. In fact I got physically sick when I tried to blog about it. Literally. Threw up. Yeah, that's bad.
August 20th was eventful.
3 years prior was the day Samuel was diagnosed with cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma).
But on this particular day, August 20, 2013, I was keeping my 2 year old niece Madison because my sister-in-law was giving birth to my new niece River Anne :)
 |
| Peter's legs |
It was eventful. We had about 7 Emergency vehicles blocking the whole entrance of Target. The bites were the worst on Peter. He had probably over 75 bites. Feet. Legs. Belly. Backside. Bottom. Arms and even neck. It was terrible. I was getting bitten all over my flip-flopped feet but I was too concerned with brushing the ants off of Peter.
I had to strip him of his clothes. He looked like he had red hives all over his body. His body was swelling significantly. I asked for Benadryl and the Target staff graciously accommodated. Michael & Samuel had some bites as well. They were crying and clutching me. I sat on the floor and held Peter in my lap with Samuel and Michael clinging to me for dear life. I was trying to keep them calm, telling them to focus on taking deep breaths.
 |
| Target had to section off the fireants section for a week! |
So we had ambulances and fire engines and police. I was talking with the EMTs and various firemen. It brought up all those traumatic times where we were rushed by ambulance to the children's hospital. It was kind of PTSD day. Nothing like seeing my kids in the back of an ambulance to get my heart pumping.
2 days later Peter gets stung on his finger by a wasp and his little finger turns into a sausage and his hand turns into the Pillsbury Dough Boy. So yeah, Benadryl, baking soda poultice pack, then ER.
 |
| Broken sandal... wah-wah-wah. |
Things just seem to keep happening.
Mike's part-time teaching job we thought was secure fell through. The plan HAD been that he would just teach 2 full days a week and work his other job but unfortunately they scheduled him to work in the middle of the day, every day of the week. So he had to turn the job down. It would keep him from working his current job at all.
It was very crushing and disappointing.
The new van we were recently given broke down. So once again we are back to owning one working vehicle. Such a bummer. Especially because our working car needs some major repair work.
The bus did not come the first two days of school for the twins. So we had to drive them. We waited an hour the first day and it was a no-show. Then the next day I only waited a half an hour before I decided to just bring them in again.
These things have worked themselves out now. Kids are in school and have adjusted rather well to their schedules. I'm still breathing. I actually have a little more time to get stuff done while the kids are gone for some of the day.
But I once gain realize how amazing it is that God gives us the grace for each day. He knows just what we need. He knows just when to have someone drop a starbucks gift card in my lap (Thanks A!) He knows just when I need a respite from the normal daily life grind.
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