God Is In Control

I knew last night as I closed my eyes, that I had to wake up this morning and type this post. It might be a long one, but hang out with me for a while and let me tell you a little bit about our day yesterday.

Friday was Jonathan's 37th birthday, so when we woke up yesterday morning, we decided to have a nice family day just celebrating daddy. There were also two showings scheduled on our house (one at 11am and one at 6pm) so we picked up, then headed out to do some junking. We hit a few yard sales and then decided to head to the Nashville flea market for the afternoon. After leaving the flea market, we headed home to rest before our planned dinner with my family at Anchor High Marina at 5:30pm. We had already called Cam (Isaac and Luke's best friend) to see if he wanted to come so we made plans to pick him up at 5ish.

I need to stop right here and let you know that around 2ish, our realtor, Ray Carman, called to tell us we had gotten a contract on our house. He emailed it to us and we knew we would counter back. I also should stop and tell you that the air conditioning went out on Leoma, our Honda Odyssey, last week. Instead of putting money into her, you know us...we thought "let's put it on craigslist and get daddy something else" I should also stop and tell you that our grass hadn't been mowed in 9 days so I facebooked our friends on facebook who have a side business and he literally showed up within an hour and did an amazing job. I tell you all this because our quiet afternoon turned into craziness. Doug was here mowing (THANK YOU AGAIN DOUG!), Ray shows up with an offer and the phone is ringing off the hook about Leoma that I put on craigslist on a whim.

We fill out the paperwork to counter, for Ray to tell us "Oh by the way, they've already accepted!" YES, WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!! We have to be out by May 29th and have nowhere to go. But I'm not worried, God is in control.

I also find a Suburban on craigslist from the original owner in HENDERSONVILLE that he posted yesterday morning, so J goes and looks at that. It's actually cheaper than what we are selling Leoma for. Haven't bought it yet, but we might. God is in control.

Then, we head to pick up Cam for dinner and he decides he doesn't want to go. He is disappointed, but it's no biggie. 7 year olds do that sometimes and he wanted to stay home and hang with his dad. So we head to Anchor High Marina for dinner. God is in control, keep reading.

Now, if you haven't seen my immediate family lately....well, we can take up some room at the dinner table. 11 of us at dinner. Service was HORRIBLE. Bless her heart, it was her second week, but I'm not sure she's got a bright future in waitressing. Our appetizer came WITH dinner, we would have to remind her multiple times we needed drink refills, she lost my mom's order so her food came out late. Not good.

As we were eating dinner, Maggie, my niece, got really hot. We were sitting on the outdoor patio and it was warm, to say the least. She was a little fussy, but honestly, we thought it was because she was burning up. Mom took her and thought she was acting a little funny, almost like she had a mini seizure. Maggie seemed ok though. Not great, but ok. Ali (Maggie's mom) then took her and was holding her a few minutes later when she did it again. Again, to me, it didn't look like what you think of when you think of a seizure. She just kind of jerked a bit, almost like you do when you think you are falling in your sleep in bed. We were done and of course, everyone was a little freaked, so we headed out of the restaurant. Ali and Josh immediately decided they were taking her to the hospital and mom and I encouraged her to call an ambulance.

We dialed 911 and gave our location and what was going on. I took the phone from mom and that's when Maggie started having a full blown seizure. Stopped breathing, turned purple, eyes rolling back in her head, scared the crap out of everyone but especially Ali who was up ahead of us holding her. As the local dispatch came on the phone, I'm not sure I can adequately type the emotions that went through me. You see, I stay pretty calm in crazy situations. He gives me peace. But as local dispatch came on the phone, I had a feeling I have never felt before. You see, the man that came on, Brandon, was the same man that answered the 911 call I made almost two years ago with Josh's heart stopped 5 days after Maggie was born. You can read about that HERE. I went over the situation with Maggie with tears in my eyes, she stopped seizing and actually seemed better than I expected post-seizure. As we waited for the ambulance, I asked the man his name. When he said, "Brandon" I explained to him who I was and how we were so thankful for him the night that Josh was so sick. The whole time I talked, I swear to you I felt God wrapping me in his arms saying "I knew this was going to happen, I'm taking care of you"

The ambulance arrived (by this time we had walked to the front of the LONG parking lot) and loaded Maggie in. Ali and Josh got in the ambulance as they checked out Mags to make sure she was ok. The firetruck arrived and let me just say, a big THANK YOU to the Hendersonville fire, EMT crew. You guys never cease to amaze me.

Jonathan brought the kids and I home, and I immediately jumped in Lady to head to the hospital. Mom and Dad were there when I arrived. The short of it is that Maggie definitely has some type of infection she is fighting off topped off by the fact that she got overheated. When she arrived at the hospital, her temp was 104.2 and that was after riding in an air conditioned ambulance the whole way there. I think it was very emotional for everyone simply because you can't help but wonder why Ali and Josh are going through so much. Maggie was sent home about 10pm with plenty of meds.

But GOD IS IN CONTROL! If you can't read about my day above and stop and say, "I don't know how they make it through all that craziness?" Well, let me tell you, it's by HIS grace, HIS love, HIS peace, HIS patience, and HIS understanding that he is constantly teaching us. We were created in HIS image; therefore, he WANTS us to be like him.

My offer stands anytime. If you don't know Jesus as your personal savior....if you want to know what a relationship with Christ is like....please email me. I would love to take you for coffee or any type of food really, I like to eat. I am not a saint, I make a million mistakes, but I love my heavenly father and I know he loves me. I love my relationship with HIM. One that is constantly growing and maturing. One that stretches me. One that teaches me.

One that molds me and makes me who I am.

THANKS for hanging on during this long read. I know I've been long winded lately, but can I get an AMEN to the fact that Maggie is going to be ok, that we sold our house, we sold our van (I think I left that part out), and GOD IS IN CONTROL!