Angels on Earth

Preface: I am not doing this to vent (although, I have to admit as a female, it's always nice to vent) but rather that I am sincerely thankful for the friends and family that surround me!

So between all of us we have had a nasty stomach flu for almost two weeks. The night before Trevor was leaving for a fishing trip in Yellowstone with all the boys in his family, Cameron was up all night again throwing up. He'd had diarrhea (sorry for the gross details, once you've lived in Africa and had children, nothing is too gross anymore) for four days and we stayed up the rest of the night deciding if he was too dehydrated and needed to get an IV.

I gave Trevor the go ahead to go on his trip anyway, and that we could handle things here. Him and his family gave Cameron a Priesthood blessing (a blessing done for the sick to aid in their healing) before they left. He was definetaly sick, but was able to drink as much gatorade as I forced upon him. Owen was antsy staying in the house so our angel neighbor offered to let him come play for an hour. Another angel neighbor stopped by and let us borrow her snow cone maker machine to help push the fluids. By the end of the day he was off the radar for dehydration.

Then it was night. I had been asleep for about an hour when Zach was up crying. After hours of doing the baby 'checklist' (you know, diaper changed, fed, warm clothes, Tylenol for teething, essential oil for sore belly) I finally laid him back in bed awake and hoped for the best. 20 minutes later Owen was up saying his mouth hurt.... and then threw up, and threw up, and threw up. Got him ok, cleaned the carpet, and the tile and headed back to bed. Ten minutes later Cameron climbed in bed with me. I was just about to sleep when he started coughing. I jolted up and he smiled, put his had in the air and said, "It's ok mom, I'm not going to spit out (aka throw up) I'm just coughing." (I thought it was so cute, and I wanted to believe him so bad but my mommy gut feeling said to get a bowl) Sure enough within 15 minutes he was throwing up. And between him and Owen, every 20 minutes somebody was throwing up. (I got into this system of pouring out throw up and rotating bowls, I got into a groove.... that lasted hours) Anyway, once I got them (and their blankets and sheets and pillows) and their pain under control it was about 6 am. I closed my eyes and finally went to sleep.

Seven o'clock in comes Owen starving for cereal and ready for the day. Ug.

Anyway, I was almost out of diapers for all kids (the boys are potty trained, but when you're sick like this it's hard to control), and needed more gatorade and popcycles. My angel mother, step dad, and bro drove an hour just to go to the store for me. (Oh yeah, I forgot the part where Zach's crib mattress fell off because it was missing two nuts.... so they got those too) I really wanted to get Owen a blessing too, but all of my family that could do blessings was with Trevor. I called our home teachers (two males who are assigned to our family to check up on us once a month) and asked if they could come give Owen a blessing. I asked Owen if he wanted a blessing, but he only wanted one from Daddy. I told him that our home teachers could do it. He was so excited because he knew who they were and knew that they always played with him and were nice to him. So our angel home teacher and another neighbor came and gave Owen a blessing.

And that brings me to now. The big boys are on their car show couches watching TV with a throw up bowl next them holding popcorn, water, two flavors of gatorade, and a popcycle. Zach's in his bed rolling around and talking, trying to convince me to come get him.

I'm so thankful for all of my angels on earth for helping make our day better!