A Weekend to Remember...!

It is November, a month in which we give thanks, and tonight I am thankful for my husband.

We had a fantastic chance over the past three days to reconnect and focus on us a little, thanks to my mother-in-law and Family Life. I've been needing just a little break from the zoo animals lately, and in August, Family Life ran a half-price special on their Weekend to Remember marriage getaways. Fortunately, my hubby knew how much I needed to get away, and he told me to grab the deal. And my wonderful mother-in-law offered to keep the kiddos for the entire weekend.

It was an awesome time of refreshing our marriage, spending time together, and relearning things that have gotten a little dull over the last 10 years... like the fact that marriages work better when you put your spouse's needs ahead of your own. Who knew? ;-)

Seriously, though, it was exactly what we needed. We had long conversations with no interruptions about Hot Wheels, Barbies, knock-knock jokes, or play-by-plays of who is annoying whom in the back seat. We went on a date to a fancy restaurant. We went for a long walk on a trail near our hotel. We were uplifted, encouraged, and instructed at the conference. We laughed and cried and just had a great time.

(Just a little aside: If you are married and have a chance to attend Family Life's Weekend to Remember, I highly recommend it. Whether you are engaged, newly married, just need a tune-up, or you feel like your marriage is on its last legs--this is worthwhile. I don't know the specifics of scholarship options, but it is definitely something that they talked about, so if cost is a factor, contact them and ask. I know that they provide scholarships for military families, pastors' families, etc, but I don't know what all is available.)

During the closing session, the speakers warned us that the weekend was a bubble--not reality. But they assured us that reality would find us soon after the conference ended. Couples may get in a fight on the way home or run out of gas or... who knows.

Darn that "who knows."

Before we left on Friday, my mother-in-law had encouraged us to stay a couple of extra days. She told us she could get the kids where they needed to go, we didn't need to worry. I knew that I needed to be home by today, because I have an event tomorrow (which I haven't even talked about here, but I'll fill you in on it soon), but we thought about staying at least one extra night. We decided to go ahead and check out of our hotel, though, go to lunch and see a movie, and then we would try Priceline to see if we could get something cheap.

We didn't make it that far.

As we were sitting in the movie theater, 3/4 of the way through the film, literally at the climax where you're sitting at the edge of your seat... Mr. Fantastic's phone rang. It was his mom. I have no idea what made him decide to answer the call while he was still sitting in the movie theater, but he said something just didn't feel right.

His mom was pretty panicked. Roo was coughing and crying hysterically, and she was afraid he had found soomething on the floor and swallowed it. She couldn't see anything in his mouth, but she couldn't settle him down either. (We were, by the way, out of the theater at this point.) We had her try a couple of things, but ultimately told her to take him to the ER. I called our neighbors and asked if the big kids could come over, and she dropped them off and got Roo to the hospital.

Let me tell you, that was one LOOOOONG 1.5 hour drive home. But you know... I can't say I was nonchalant about it, but very shortly after we started driving and I was all upset, I heard God's still small voice. Katy, I've got this. You know that I am in control. It will be a lot less painful if you rest in my arms and trust Me NOW, rather than fighting me until it's all over and then realizing that you should have trusted me. I've got this. I've got a plan for it. Trust Me. And that did it. He was right (and He usually is)--I needed to trust Him. Whether it was an overreaction or whether it ended terribly, God was carrying out His plan, and I needed to rest in that.

That sounds rather melodramatic, doesn't it? I know that you're all thinking that this isn't that big of a deal--and as it turns out, everything is fine--but ever since Down syndrome came into our lives, my perspective has shifted. I used to think that bad things wouldn't happen to us. I used to think that God would at least somehow prepare you for bad news, so it wouldn't knock you off your feet when it happened. But after last June, I've realized that you never know what's waiting around the corner. And so little things quickly turn into what ifs. But not this time--it was just seconds after my mind started to race that God reminded me to trust Him, to rest in Him, to stop trying to take control from Him, because it was futile anyway. He was in control, no matter what I let my imagination dream up.

So after our whole big adventure, we went straight to the hospital and found an empty ER room where Roo was supposed to be. Turns out he was getting an X-ray. They had already made sure that nothing was blocking his airway, and then sent him to X-ray to see if they could spot anything in his throat or lungs. We waited for about 25 minutes before my mother-in-law came walking down the hall, carrying my baby boy. It had been a little over 2 hours since she had called us, and he was much calmer (he had actually fallen asleep at one point), but was still crying (mainly because he had been asleep until they laid him on the cold X-ray table!) and seemed to be trying to catch his breath.

But don't you worry, this Mama Bear wasted NO TIME grabbing that baby and snuggling him! And he wouldn't go to anyone else once I got him! Oh, let me tell you, that felt good. I sang and sang, and Daddy did Pattycake and played with him, and we finally got him to settle down--and even to SMILE and LAUGH a little. I realized that he had been short of breath when I first saw him mainly because of the large amount of crying he had done--and I'm guessing he also had a sore throat from whatever he swallowed.

We talked to the doctor, and basically... we just have to wait it out. It doesn't appear that there is anything in his lungs, although not everything shows up on X-ray. We have to keep an eye on him, and if he gets a fever or persistent cough or just is acting sick, we should call our doctor and mention the incident.

So yeah, reality found us after our little romantic bubble. But we're home and fine--and this morning, he's been hopping around as happy as can be. :-)

Definitely "A Weekend to Remember"!