When It Rains

Yesterday felt like 4 days long, but it was only 24 hours. Here's the rundown of my day...

Ed wakes me up at 5:10am and tells me Timmy is throwing up and he doesn't have his contacts in so he can't see if it's blood. My first thought is..."Oh no, it's the color of blood" - I then go into the bathroom to see my precious baby boy standing over the toilet throwing up non-stop. I go over and start rubbing his back and look to see if it's blood. It's not, it's the remnants of supper the night before, pancakes and syrup. He finishes and asks for some water, then goes back to bed. I normally get up for work at 5:30am, so I decided to stay up and start getting ready. Well, as I was getting ready, he throws up again, and again. We decided to put him in the bed with Ed so he doesn't have to go so far to get to the bathroom.

Around 6:45, I leave for work. Where we are living right now in Newnan is about 45 miles to work. I don't have to be there untili 8am, but with Atlanta traffic, it sometimes takes me over an hour. I head out on 85North and about 15 miles into the trip, my car makes this sound like it dropped something on the highway, and then won't go when I push the gas. By God's grace, I was right next to an exit, so I merge onto the exit ramp, and have to stop at the traffic light because of traffic. Well, as soon as I stop moving, the car won't move again. So, here I am on the exit ramp, with 15 or so cars behind me, and I can't get the car to move. I knew that we had roadside assistance with our Sprint Cell Phone plan, but I wasn't sure how to use it, so I needed to call Ed. I also knew that his cell phone is plugged into the outlet in the bonus room. So, I call Jenn (my BF that I am living with) and ask her to get Ed to get his phone. She tells me that she has been throwing up since about 6am, but was scheduled to substitute that morning and was going in anyway. So, Ed gets on the phone, I tell him that the car broke down, and then he says, "Hold on...I think I am going to be sick. I'll call you back." I was like great....whatever happens with the car...I can't go to work because I needed to go home and take care of my boys. Silas hadn't been throwing up, so I knew that I needed to protect him from Ed and Timmy. Back to the car...I decided to turn off the car and start it again to see if it would move, and PTL it did...I was able to move it up the ramp and turn right into a Shell gas station. Then...it wouldn't move anymore, so I parked it. In the meantime, Jenn called me to ask me what exit I was on...I told her and she said that is the same exit she is getting off for work. So, she was going to pick me up at the Shell station, I was going to take her to work, and then I would have her car for the day while we tried to figure out what was wrong with mine.

Let me just say, that I feel it was NO coincidence that I broke down near enough to the same exit that Jenn was going to be driving by...God's HAND was in this situation. As hard as it is knowing that the van is broke, and Ed and I don't have the money to fix it...God is still in control.

Back to my day, I called my dad, because he is pretty familiar with cars, and I describe to him what the car did, and he said, "Sounds like the transmission, not an easy fix." I threw up my hands and went WHAT NOW GOD!?! It seems like ever since we pulled out of UMHB to move to GA, we have been met with trials...but like I said before...God orchestrated the events that brought us to this point. My mom got on the phone and as always, gave me the MOST encouraging words that I needed to hear. (Side note: from the moment that Ed and I felt God leading us to Georgia, my mom has ALWAYS had the right words to say to be EXACTLY what I needed to hear. All those times we felt like giving up and throwing in the towel and moving back to Tx. Mom was there... So, Mom...if you are reading this....THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for EVERYTHING you have said...God is using you in a MIGHTY way in our lives. I LOVE YOU so much!) She told me, that this didn't surprise God, and HE will take care of us.

The SPRINT RR Assistance program, only gives you 3 miles free for towing. I looked around me and saw nothing that looked like a auto garage in the area. She then said, it was $4 to $7 for each mile after that and they only take cash. Well, surprise, surprise...I didn't have cash on me. She also said that it would be free if the tow truck to me back to their shop. She said sometimes they have mechanics there also. So, Mom had told me to pray, pray, pray before she hung up, so that's what I did. I sat in my van at this Shell gas station, and just cried out to God. I prayed that God would send a tow truck that would have a mechanic at their shop. Because I knew I could not pay for more than 3 miles. I waited...I waited...I waited....in the meantime, Ed calls me back and tells me HE has thrown up at 8 times, and Timmy is now dry heaving and that I needed to come home and take care of Silas so he didn't have to get near him. I told him I had Jenn's car, but I had to wait with the van until the tow truck got there.

The tow truck arrived. This towing company did not have a mechanic, but he told me that he would give me 5 miles free, and the nearest auto shop was 4 1/2 miles (God is watching out for me). He also looked at the engine and checked some things and said it looks like the transmission. He said the auto shop that he was taking me to, didn't work on transmissions, but it was a family owned business, and they would take care of me. (God is watching over me) On the way over, the tow truck man called ahead and told them what was going on, so when I got there, all I had to do was sign something I left to head to Newnan.

I got home about 10:15...Ed and Timmy hadn't thrown up since about 9:30 so they were both resting. I got Silas up fed him breakfast, and we went to Kroger to get Sprite, Gatorade and Chicken Noodle Soup for the sickly.

The rest of the day was spent going up and down the stairs fixing drink, soup, crackers for the sick ones and trying to figure out how I was going to get to work the rest of the week. I just started a new job and I don't have any personal days earned yet...so I couldn't afford to miss another day of work.

Later that afternoon, I started feeling nauseous too. I was like, "Oh no, not me too" I had to go pick up Jenn at 3:30, and had to keep pulling over because I felt like I had to throw up. Luckily, I didn't...and those feelings passed after a while. (I have a cold/sinus drainage, so I think that is what was making me feel nauseous.)

Anyway, Ed and Timmy stayed up stairs in the family room or our bedroom all day. Silas was very needy....everytime I left the room to get something, he cried out for me. By the end of the day, Jenn, Ed and Timmy felt much better. However, Jenn's husband Ryan (who has staying at his parents with their 3 year old daughter) came home throwing up too. So, in the household of 7, 4 of them were sick with the flu...NOT FUN!

But...Tuesday is a new day...Timmy went to school....I went to work, and Ed is eating again. All is well in the Lockwood household.