I'm about to the point of putting a ban on travel in our house. At least until our children are grown. Sometimes it seems as if we're living under a curse when it comes to trips.
Evidence:
-Bobby went on a business trip when Sammy was about two years old and Sammy fell off the
trampoline and got a gash on his forehead.
-One year while on vacation my ear swelled up -like it has a tendency to do.
-The next summer Sammy ended up with a cold & fever while we were on vacation.
-Our trip to Orlando, FL brought the worst stomach bug ever to Hannah, Samuel and myself.
-Our family vacation this year saw Sammy suffer with a double ear infection.
-This year we went to visit Bobby's family at the beach in NC and Sammy ate so much that he ended
up throwing up (first time that has ever happened to him.)
-Our second trip this year to NC, for our nephew's christening, saw Hannah with a huge red rash on
one side of her face.
There may be more. And we've had our fair share of good trips too. They surely outnumber the bad but tonight all I remember is the bad & the ugly.
Anyway, to the point of this post. Bobby left Thursday for work training in CA. Thursday afternoon Amos somehow busted his bottom lip, the inside of his bottom lip and cut his chin right below his lip. No one saw exactly what happened but we know it involved his metal Tonka truck, copious amounts of blood and crying -from Amos & myself. No big deal. I gave him some Ibuprofen and kept an eye on him. He was still playing and eating fine, his poor lip was swollen and it looked like there were some small blisters on the inside but I figured he'd look better by the next morning.
Wrong. Friday morning his lip looked like it had doubled in size as well as the blisters. And they were white & grayish looking. I ended up taking him to the doctor just to make sure no stitches or antibiotics were needed. It was comforting to hear that it really looks worse than it is but still.
And if worrying about Amos wasn't enough - my mom's brother passed away very early Friday morning. He was suffering with many health issues so we knew to prepare ourselves but it still doesn't make it any easier. My mom has been very stressed and not sleeping very well. There's only so much I can do to help since I'm home with three kids and my only reliable baby sitters are out of town on vacation.
James 1:2-4 says:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
We rejoice that my uncle had called on the name of the Lord and was saved. We have the comfort of knowing we'll see him again one day...
The kids & I rejoice that Amos just had a busted lip and didn't need stitches...
We're working on being joyful in our trials. We're always working on this but we're just getting a little extra practice this time. Just remind me of this scripture the next time I'm complaining about our travel related trials :-)
