Good eats, long rides, the ER & grandparents!

Maria's blog

We just got in from our trip to Ohio last evening. We spent almost a week in Ohio visiting our family.

Our trip began at 3:30am last Thursday morning. Duane drove the entire time, 885 miles. The trip including bathroom breaks, gas refueling, and screaming children was 17 hours. The girls did suprisingly well. Needless to say they were out of control when we reached my grandfather's house late that night!

We ran from home to home visiting family and friends. We were able to eat at some of our favorite places. We met our good friends, Bryan and Joleen at First Watch for breakfast one morning and savored the incredible breakfast food! We regret that we couldn't devote more time to being with our family.

On Saturday evening we had a party where some of our friends were able to visit. Several of our friends we hadn't seen in 3 years! Sunday we visited the Columbus Vineyard. What an amazingly huge church! It is funny how our perception has changed since being in Wichita!

Monday evening we were enjoying the visit of Duane's family and all the cousins were playing together when we heard a smack followed by Paige screams. We all ran to see what had happened. Through her cries we learned, of course, that she had hit her head. So as we were grabbing some ice for her, Duane pulled her bangs away from her face to reveal an enormous bump. It was purple and we were shocked how quickly it had surfaced. Duane looked at me and said, "We are going to the ER, I'm afraid she cracked her skull."

If you know anything of Paige's past head injuries, I have been awaiting the one that would send us to the ER, here it was! We threw her in the car, grabbed Annie and forgot Jena and headed off to the ER. I am not allowed to say how fast the car was pushed to the hospital. The entire time I am sitting next to Paige talking to her and she keeps saying to me, "Momma I want to go home." I am thinking the exact same thing, trying to keep from crying because of this situation!

We arrived in record time and were told to wait for the attening doctor. As we were waiting I heard a girl behind me say that she had been there since 5:30pm and that was even with a call from her doctor. I looked at my watch and it was 7:30pm! I thought that we were in for a long night. Not too long after that we were seen and I am guessing that it was because it was a head trauma and she was a toddler that we were able to get in so quickly. The doctor looked at her eyes and gave her some crayons. He was testing her gross and fine motor skills to see if she was ok.

Based on the way she was reacting he said that he thought that she would be ok. What a scare. We were so tired and had been "running on empty" for the past 4 days that we were ready to grab Jena and head back that night. We stayed and we are glad that we did.

Of course we had other obstacles along the way. What can you do when there isn't enough sleep, your children haven't napped and your husband is sicker than a dog again for the third night in a row? So we survived! I know that so often during that trip Duane reminded me that our idea of a vacation wasn't what the Lord had for us. I had to constantly put aside my plans and ask the Lord what He had for us.

Two very important people we visited with, completely changed our focus, our grandparents. We stayed with my grandfather for most of the time and enjoyed being with him! Then the day before we left we were able to visit with Duane's grandmother. Both visits were great and they seemed to really enjoy the girls!

Speaking of grandparents: we brought 2 back with us. Duane's parents will be spending time here in Wichita with us and we are so thankful they traveled back with us!