The Lord Provides

Well, I haven't posted anything in a while because Ryan was away on a business trip for a week in Las Vegas, so I didn't have the computer! It's always interesting how bad things tend to happen when he is gone. And it isn't just me...I remember as a kid, when my dad traveled alot, the times when he was away on business were the times when we would all get sick or the basement would flood or someone would get in a car accident, etc. I don't know if it is the Lord testing my strength and reliance on Him or if it is Satan attacking when he knows we are at our weakest.

Ryan left on Sunday and we had a showing of the house that afternoon. The showing was from 1-3, so I planned to take the kids to the mall so they could play and eat lunch and then we'd head back. Everything went fine and we came back around 2 when they were done. The kids were worn out and ready for their naps...but when I went to open the door from the garage to the house, it was locked. No big deal, I thought, as I went to get my keys...until I remembered we hadn't gotten my house key back from the neighbors who fed Casey while we were in Oregon. Okay, don't panic, we'll just go check the door from the screened in porch to the house...surely they didn't lock that. Yup, they did. I knew they had locked the front door and they were no unlocked windows. Ryan was long gone on his way to Vegas and they neighbors were on a trip in the mountains. Awesome.

I frantically called our realtor and left him a message. I then called the showing service hoping they could give me some code to access the lockbox we have on the front porch. No luck. Long story short...after waiting another hour (and having to use the neighbors bathroom), our realtor finally showed up and saved the day! At this point, it was 3:00 and WAY past nap-time. The kids collapsed into their beds and so did I!! Moral of this story: always have a spare house key hidden somewhere for emergencies.

And, that wasn't the extent of the drama while Ryan was gone...oh no! The next trial came late Wednesday night when I started having intense low back pain. The pain then moved to my stomach and I got the chills and a fever. As the night went on, I spent 6 hours vomiting before I fell asleep...only to be awoken 20 minutes later by Nolan. Sweet. The problem was that after throwing up all night, I was so weak I could barely walk. I stumbled up the stairs, opened his door and made it halfway to his crib before passing out on the floor. I came to with the sounds of him screaming and scared. I can only credit the Lord for giving me the strength to get him out of his crib, give him his reflux medicine and snuggle on the couch until Lauren woke up and could help me.

I called Ryan and told him I was concerned for the kids safety and he got on the phone, calling our church and Lauren's school, asking if there was anyone who could come help me out. I was AMAZED at the amount of people, some I had never even met, who came to my rescue. One of my friends (Jen Kayser, you are awesome!!) came over that morning and took over with the kids. She also drove me to the hospital where they discovered I had a kidney infection. She bought me gatorade and crackers and soup, fed my kids lunch and let me sleep all afternoon. When I woke up, another friend was at my house (thank you, Joy Barrett!!) to help out - she went to the pharmacy to get my antibiotic, made dinner for us and stayed to help me get the kids to bed.

It was so humbling to see the body of the church come together on my behalf. I was completely overwhelmed and felt so blessed. The Lord truly watched over us and took care of us while we were in a time of need. We are so glad we made it through and we give all the glory to our Jehovah-Jireh!!