Monday, July 5, 2010

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

As we get very close to Joel's deployment date, I started thinking about the week leading up to Joel's England deployment.  It seems with us, that before each deployment, things go wrong at home - either with illness or with our 80+ year old home falling apart.  Here's a note I wrote on Facebook right before he left last year.  Hope it's encouraging to you.  It's helped me keep perspective during these last few, busy days.

"I loved "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" when I was a kid. I remember checking and re-checking it out of our school's library... Never have I related to poor Alexander more than this week. First of all, Grace is doing much better and we are so thankful for that - it's frightening to see how quickly a toddler can decline with the flu!

So, Joel's getting ready to deploy for three months in a few days, so we were anticipating a busy week with last minute to-dos and seeing family and friends. We prayed that God would allow good family time, and I'm kind of wondering what "good family time" means in His eyes!

Grace started throwing up on Tuesday which is a first for her and kind of threw us for a loop. Poor little kids just don't know what's going on and they just want Mom and Dad to make it all better. Joel slept on her floor that night and woke up to her asking him to wash her baby and blanket. She had a nice present waiting for us that morning and nothing matches starting your day like that. She felt better throughout the day - just kinda sleepy and clingy. So we cuddled, read books and just hung out!

That night we all cuddled on the couch and the power went out - one of our tree limbs fell on our line. Joel went out to see what was going on. Another big "boom" and we realized that one of our neighbor's big limbs fell and a piece broke off and fell on Joel's car. Nice. Luckily, Joel's car took it like a man and only had a few dings.

We got ready for bed and realized that our back portion of the fence completely collapsed. So, we went to bed, all bundled up and prayed for a new day.

That morning Grace and I went to the neighbor's until our power was restored. Karen told me that our fence along their property line collapsed on her husband's truck the night before.  Ok, so a whole new fence is on the way!

Grace seemed fine that morning - just a little tired. Within a few hours she started throwing up, dry heaving and just acting completely lethargic. I called the doctor and was told by the nurse to just monitor her. Thanks, yes, I'll do that. I'm so glad my friend was so gracious in allowing my sick kid to throw up all over her house and then offer to make me lunch!

Grace continued to vomit and started throwing up blood so I called the doctor back and we got in within an hour. By that point, Grace is barely responding to us and is basically just staring blankly - not her normal bouncy self!

The doctor decided to admit her to the hospital so they could rehydrate her quickly. I know so many parents who have gone through worse with their children, but I think it's frightening for anyone to see their little ones poked and prodded and put in a hospital crib! Grace was a trooper and handled all the poking remarkably well!

After a few hours of IV fluids, she quickly perked up and started resembling the Grace we knew. She loved having a TV right next to her bed and told Joel and I that she wanted to stay there instead of going home.

Thursday night, I went home for a quick shower and on my way back to the hospital, hit my neighbors shiny new pick-up truck. I left a quick note and left for the hospital in tears... another deductible to pay. I came into Grace's room - her and Joel are cuddled together watching TV and Grace greets me with a big "MOMMY!". Wow. In that moment, I realized that nothing else mattered but the fact that my little girl was back to her normal self. The fence, the power, Joel's car, my car, our neighbors truck , Joel's deployment... "Rejoice in the Lord always" came immediately to mind and I knew that all was in God's hands. And I'm thankful for that!

Grace is perky, happy and giving orders. Joel's working on the fence this very minute. I placed a claim with the insurance company and our neighbor is completely understanding about the truck. All is well and we have a few precious days together as a family before Joel leaves on Monday.

Philippians 4 has long been a special passage to me. I cling to it once again and know that I am to be anxious for nothing - for God holds all things in His hands!"

8 comments:

Emmy said...

I remember this! Hopefully things don't pour down on you this time.

Jill said...

We've had a few bumps this week, but nothing compares to all of this from last year.

Amy said...

Ugh. That totally sounds like a majorly crappy week!! =\ So glad the kiddo is feeling better. Here's to hoping that your life remains uneventful until (and during) your hubby's deployment! :)

Jill said...

Amy - Yes, I'm hope for an uneventful deployment for all of us! :)

Whitney said...

You're on my prayer list. I hope this deployment goes smoothly for you and your husband. I thank him for his service! And thank you for yours!

Jill said...

Whitney - Thanks so much - sometimes just knowing people are praying for us is all the support we need to get through.

Spurgeon said...

Jill as we both know, actually as you and my wife know, it takes a strong woman to be the wife of a military man. It is hard when getting close to a deployment for the man to understand what is going on with his wife just because we have so much going on and tend to forget that life keeps happening while we are gone. Your strong faith in the Lord motivates me to get closer to the Lord and I commend you on such a great job you are doing as a mother and wife through this process. I will probably say it 100 times again but keep up the writing and I see from your next post you are taking a break. By all means do so but be sure to let us know if anything comes up where we (my family and I) can step in and help. Again thanks and I look forward to reading your posts soon.

Jill said...

CSPURGEON - Your words mean a great deal to me!! The blog, so far, as been very therapeutic for me and it's great to get back to writing, which I used to love so much.
I'll be sure to call on you if something comes up along the way - if anything, it would be fun to get the kids together.