Oh the humiliation!!!

So do you want to hear what happened to me this weekend? Really, you do?? Well, let's just say this past Saturday goes down as the most humiliating day of my life. It's a long, long story with lots of ridiculous details that I'll do my best to leave out. So here goes:

Saturday morning I was rushing around trying to get things ready for my sister and her kids to arrive. Ryan was heading out of town for the day and I wanted to get a shower before he left. I hopped in the shower. Now our shower is in a separate little room from the rest of the bathroom. This room doesn't have a towel bar in it (hmmm...note to self...need to fix that), so I always have to remember to carry my towels in there with me. On Saturday morning I forgot. So I was getting out of the shower and realized I didn't have a towel with me.

This is when it gets good: So I walked across our ceramic tile floor dripping wet and in a split second I slipped and landed flat on my back and hit my head on the floor. Yes, it was one of those cartoon moments that happen in a Looney Toons episode or something. When I hit my head on the floor my vision went black for a minute. I don't think I blacked out and at the time I felt certain that I didn't. Now I'm not so sure.

I got up off the floor and felt fine except for my throbbing head. I got dressed, put make-up on and headed downstairs. I mentioned the incident to Ryan and he even said "do you think it's okay if I leave?" and of course I thought I was totally fine. So Ryan left and I made a few phone calls and even told my sister and sister-in-law about my bathroom slip and how ridiculous it was that I fell.

I took some Excedrin because my entire head, neck and back were starting to hurt. I sat down on the couch to rest for a minute because my head was throbbing at this point. And in a matter of seconds I could feel myself beginning to pass out.

Here I was home ALONE with a two year old and a four year old and I could feel everything spinning and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I picked up the phone, which was right beside me, and hit redial to call my sister. Apparently I said "I'm passing out. I can't breathe. I'm calling 911." Then I hung up. You can imagine how thrilled she was to get that phone call.

Isn't this a great story? Ugh!

I called 911 and once they figured out what was going on they very wisely told me to have Christian unlock the front door. (Side note: The whole time I'm fighting consciousness while talking to the 911 operator, McKenna is standing there crying about her poopy. Oh my word...that girl).

I heard a car pull into the driveway and I thought it was the paramedics, so I hung up with the 911 guy (who by the way, was awesome!!) and suddenly my neighbor down the street (who we go to church with and his son goes to preschool with Christian...we know them well) comes running through my front door. At this point I'm totally confused as to why he is there, but I was so thankful someone was there for my kids. To make a long story short, Amy called him and he came to my rescue. Whew....next the paramedics rolled up. An ambulance and a Medic truck. The medic truck even decided to go with some flashing lights, just so my neighbors would be sure to know something was going on. Lovely!

With some reluctance on my part, they loaded me onto a stretcher and loaded me into the back of an ambulance for the first time in my life. I DID NOT want to go to the hospital, in fact I was quite worried about running into someone I knew while in the ER, but the paramedics talked me into it. They were concerned because I hit my head and then almost passed out over an hour later. They thought I could possibly have some bleeding in my head or something. I was not convinced. In fact I told the paramedic that I thought I was throwing up because I was just car sick in the back of the ambulance.

As soon as I got to the ER they gave me a breathing treatment because I think I had an asthma attack because of all the drama. I really started feeling better after that. My heart rate became normal once again. My blood pressure was just fine. Next up was a CT scan that I was convinced would be clear, but it wasn't. I had a concussion!

So to recap: What did I do on Saturday???
I slipped on the bathroom floor, almost passed out while alone with my kids and ended up with a concussion! Just great! Thankfully I really am feeling fine. I felt funny all day Saturday. Ryan thought my speech sounded a little slurred and my head hurt all day. And my vision just seemed off. Today I feel sort of like I have whip lash. My neck, head and shoulders are really, really sore, but I haven't felt dizzy at all. I went to church this morning and we had some very fun company this afternoon! So I'm doing fine. Just totally embarrassed that everyone in the world seemed to know about my accident within an hour of it happening. Thankfully we are surrounded by some wonderful friends, who we most definitely can count on in an emergency!

And by the way, Natasha Richardson's name was mentioned to me over and over on Saturday (by paramedics, nurses, doctors and friends). Lesson learned, if you hit your head....get it checked out! I'm so thankful that everyone in the ER treated my situation seriously. I felt so silly for being there, and they assured me over and over again that I made the right choice. Even though they couldn't medically do a thing for my concussion, it was important to find out that it was just a concussion and that there was no blood clot of any kind or anything else going on.

So what did you do this weekend??

No candles for this girl!

Remember how McKenna stuck her finger in her birthday candle and burned it?
Well, we tried to get her to blow out a candle on her real birthday and she was having no parts of it!

So at her birthday party with her friends I didn't even try to do candles, but she was still nervous about the whole thing and I couldn't even get a smile.

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Thankfully we have a whole year before we do this again and hopefully the memory of that little ouchie from the candle will fade.

Drama, Drama!!

She's so cute, isn't she?? Well, she's also full of drama these days. This post is going to borderline on Too Much Information (TMI) but it's the reality that I've been dealing with for the last week, so you get to hear about it. You see, my poor girl was dealing with some horrid constipation about a week ago. She was crying about her belly hurting and this went on for three days. Finally she got some relief but it was terribly painful for her. I mean screaming, crying....horrible. Ryan and I could hardly stand to see her in so much pain. But once she finally pooped we thought it was over....but we were wrong.

For the past week she has refused to go to the bathroom. She is so afraid of it hurting. So I've talked to the doctor (several times) and they are pretty concerned about it because once children develop a psychological fear of going to the bathroom there are all sorts of problems that arise. Just great :( Who would have ever dreamed we'd be having this problem. So for the ENTIRE WEEK.... ALL DAY LONG... McKenna walks around whining and crying about her belly hurting and how she doesn't want to poopy. She is literally making herself sick about it. And we are doing everything we can to make sure she actually isn't in any pain. We're mixing medicine in with her juice and her diet consists of lots of fruits and veggies. She's even chewing fiber gummy vitamins. This entire problem is all in her head. It's just fear. Bless her heart. I hate to see her this way, but on the other hand I can hardly stand the clingy, whiny child she has become. I want my old McKenna back. I keep thinking that she'll just forget about what happened last week, but so far she hasn't.

So I don't know quite what to do from here. McKenna understands completely what we say to her, so I've explained over and over that her belly and bottom are all better now and that it won't hurt anymore, but she's not buying it.


Any advice??

There's nothing like a good cry in PUBLIC!

I headed to the post office today with three very full boxes of clothing for the kids in Malwai! I tried to cram as much as I could into each box, so I actually put all the clothes in big ziplock bags and then stuck my vacuum cleaner attachment into the bag to suck out all the air. It worked and each box had about 30 items of clothing in it. I really did try to count everything, but McKenna was very involved in the process and she kept unpacking and messing things up. I know for certain that we had 38 items of clothing for the girls (mostly dresses, but some shirts with skirts). And I think we had about 40 items of clothing for the boys! Yahoo!!!





So anyway, I sat in front of the post office with those boxes of precious clothes that you guys sent me and with this little envelope of money that arrived in over 15 different cards (some of which arrived today...and if you sent something that hasn't arrived yet...don't worry it will still go to the kiddos in Malwai) and I prayed for the children who would wear each one of the outfits that we sent. And I had this great feeling of humility that God was at work. That all of us came together to be the "hands and feet of Jesus." Here I am a stay-at-home mom who most of the time feels very consumed with laundry and discipline and finding lost binkies and trying to keep my nasty kitchen floor clean. Most days it's hard for me to even look beyond myself and the immediate needs of the children in my life who can be quite demanding. Most of the time I honestly am probably pretty grouchy and uninspired. And so I am eternally thankful for people in my life like Jamie who help me to burst the bubble of the reality around me and allow me to see the injustice on this earth that Jesus sees. I'm sure Jesus was mightily disappointed with the first two and a half decades of my life in which I thought giving my old clothes to Goodwill was generous. I know now that God has called me to do way bigger things and I feel like I'm finally in a place where I'm training my heart to listen to his prodding.





And so I carried those boxes into the post office thinking of beautiful brown skinned children running around in the dirt with no shoes. Laughing and playing with complete joy in their hearts despite their lack of toys and when it was finally my turn in line tears welled up in my eyes as the postal worker asked me what was in the boxes. I explained how you guys sent money and sent clothes and how they were for some orphans in Africa. And I told her about McKenna's party and how all of her little friends brought clothes and she was so excited opening everything, even though it wasn't for her (and there was no one else in line, so she had to hear the whole story as I filled out those ridiculously long customs forms). And she got it! She was so sweet and took absolutely FOREVER trying to figure out the cheapest way to ship those clothes. And so, they are on their way! I was blown away by all of your generosity! I'm sure the kiddos in Malwai will have no idea what hit them when their Polo, Nautica, Children's Place, Gap and Carters clothes arrive! I love it that you guys gave your BEST!

"It is more blessed to GIVE than to receive." Acts 20:35

P.S. I'll add a picture to this post later, when I get the picture from the post office uploaded!

Thank You!

McKenna's Malawi Party was yesterday!!

So fun!
Thanks to everyone who came and all of you out there in cyber space we have tons and tons of clothes to send to Africa!

I still need to actually count everything, but I have a feeling we have about 70 pieces of clothing for the kids in the orphan care program in Malawi!

And all the cards and packages were so much fun for McKenna to open!

I am particularly thankful for the cards. I'm still not quite sure exactly how much this is going to cost to ship everything but I think we've got about half the shipping costs covered.

I love seeing what God can do through a bunch of us giving just a little!

Thanks for helping to make McKenna's day so special! And thank you for blessing some sweet orphans in Africa! I'll keep you posted on the project and more pictures of McKenna's birthday will be coming!

P.S. Remember I told you I would take some video of McKenna opening everything??? Well, I did. But....you'll have to turn your head sideways. I was distracted and wasn't thinking about what I was doing and took all the video sideways. NICE. ((sigh)). I have more video, but I'll spare you the agony. I'm just posting the shortest clip!

Sledding

Thank You!

We got some fun Valentine packages today! Thanks for the fun surprises Grammy and Grampy!
Christian was thrilled with his new Lightning McQueen activity book. He has a slight obsession these days with good old McQueen thanks to the Wii game he has. We've started a new behavior system this week in which he has to earn time on the Wii by having good behavior. It's helping big time with some attitude issues we've been having.
I love it when McKenna opens presents because she screams with excitement every time she opens something new

And some more Valentine surprises from Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Beez, Gracey and Zavier! Thanks guys!

McKenna got right down to business eating her candy.

And then she did this (notice the color categorization) and she clapped for herself.

Okay, ignore the part at the beginning where I correct McKenna for throwing M&Ms on the floor. I just had to share this video of McKenna counting. She counts perfectly to the number 11 and I think she has 12 & 13 down too! WooHooo...this is especially exciting for me considering Christian didn't even say "mama" until he was two. He was totally speech delayed and I worried and worried, but now he won't be quiet :) So I'm am totally thrilled to pieces that McKenna is counting!

And last but not least, look what's starting to pile up for McKenna's Malawi Party!!! I just love getting the mail these days! I can't wait to see all the clothes and card you guys have sent for the orphans in Malawi, Africa. We had to postpone the party due to some snow we were supposed to get last night, but it didn't end up being much. We could have had the party, but now we're having it Friday. And I can't wait! If you haven't read my post about the party then make sure you click HERE!

Jesus doesn't care if you buy magazines!

A magazine salesman just came to my door and tried to talk me into ordering a magazine subscription. When I kindly declined he then asked me to order one to be sent to the local hospital. Nice idea, but I don't think the hospital needs more magazines when there are kids in Haiti dying because they don't have food. I didn't say that, but that's just where my heart is right now. (Side note: I read THIS the other day and cried so hard I couldn't breathe. Please keep praying for the people of Haiti! We cannot forget them).

Okay, back to the magazine guy. So he persisted and I finally had to give him a very firm "No" and then he said............oh my word I still can't believe he said this............he said; "That's okay. Only the real Christians have been buying them anyway."

My mouth was literally hanging open. I couldn't even respond. What on earth would possess someone to feel so righteous about themselves that they would actually think for one second that buying a magazine has anything to do with one's spiritual state. It kind-of made me feel sick to watch him walk through the rest of the neighborhood probably saying the same thing to so many people. I wanted to knock on all the doors after he left and say "By the way, Jesus could care less if you buy a magazine or not. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! He loves you so much already. You can't earn his love (Ephesians 2:8-9), he sent His son as a sacrifice for YOU so that you can have a relationship with him!!!" Maybe I could post a big huge sign in my yard that says "JESUS DOESN'T CARE IF YOU BUY MAGAZINES"! I could order it from my favorite place, Vistaprint!! Ha! Okay, so now I'm just getting carried away. Oh my.

Me and my Valentine's

McKenna declined to be included in the picture taking madness. Imagine that :)

More snow pictures....can you tell I'm running out of ideas for good titles??

All three of my love bugs all bundled up!

Christian was trying to be such a good big brother by pulling McKenna around. He was pretty disappointed when she cried the whole time.

King of the hill.

Our home.

This girl loves her daddy!

This didn't last long. The tires kept spinning in the snow, but he really wanted to try it. So he did and then he quickly moved on to other things.

McKenna had been looking out the window at her house for days. She was pretty worried about it because at one point it was almost completely covered with snow. But she was thrilled when I helped her get inside despite the mounds of snow surrounding it.

There's nothing like sledding on fresh snow!

Our snow fort was nothing special, but Christian thought it was grand.

McKenna actually joined Christian in his snow fort.

My sweet little girl wouldn't keep her gloves on.

And then she fussed everytime she put her hand in the snow. But she loved it! We have all loved having this extra time together.

The Fire

This doesn't look good, does it?
Ryan was headed to the gym early this morning when he heard on the radio that multiple buildings were on fire in the business park where Ryan's distribution center is located.
Naturally he panicked because his warehouse is full of FIREWORKS. And we all know that fireworks and fire are not a good combo.

Ryan quickly found out that it was the building right next to one of his warehouses that was on fire. Still not good to have a massive fire next door to millions of dollars worth of fireworks. But the firefighters did their job well. It took 9 hours and fire companies from 4 different counties to get it under control. At one point there were 40 pieces of equipment/trucks there!

And this is all that was left. This building was owned by Cargill. They manufactured feed for dairy cows in the warehouse. I can remember many times sitting in the parking lot of Ryan's work with the kids in the car watching the grain elevator pour dairy feed down into the back of a truck. Christian always loved to see it.

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So it's been an exciting day for Ryan, just not in a good way. And we are praising God that no one was in the building when it caught on fire and that their were no injuries in putting out the blaze.

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And today Christian and I have been having lots of good conversations about what to do if we had a fire in our house. This is the first time we've talked about this since we've moved into our new house and it's a good discussion to have (probably should have had it sooner). We talked about all the different ways there are to get out of our house. We practiced unlocking the windows and talked about how to kick out the screens. And we picked a special meeting place outside in case there was an emergency and we got separated. And we talked about how you NEVER hide during a fire. Do you have a "fire plan" for your family?

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(Actual fire pictures courtesy of Fire Station #4)