God’s Blessing For Me This Week

Looking back on the events of the last few days I've come to realize that Annabelle's rather severe vomiting episode was not an accident. Talking with other parents from Annabelle's daycare I've found out that 2 other children had a stomach virus the same night as Annabelle. Add this to the fact that I have it today and I think it’s pretty clear that her vomiting was not entirely a result of the pneumonia. This brings me to how this was a blessing. Annabelle has had 2 other episodes where she vomited and in both cases we quit giving her milk and she stopped throwing up. After removing milk from the situation after the second vomit the other night she continued to vomit about every 10 min. for another 2 hours. On her last vomit before we decided to take her to the emergency room, it had been about 20 or 30 minutes so I thought it might be over, however, she threw up as I was talking to Katie on the phone and that's when we decided that was it. She only threw up one other time after that and hasn't thrown up since so I probably would not have taken her to the emergency room if not for that 8:00 vomit and the preceding incidents of vomiting. At the hospital they gave her a quick exam and decided to do a chest X-ray which clearly showed the pneumonia. Once again, if not for the severe vomiting episode I would not have taken her to the hospital but she would still have pneumonia and be exhibiting no symptoms. The doctors also said that it was good we brought her when we did because they were able to catch the pneumonia early and give her antibiotics that night.

Now I'll tell you about the second blessing during this night. After finding out that Annabelle had pneumonia I had to call Katie who was eleventeen thousand miles away in Colorado. I knew it was going to be hard for her to hear and hard for me to say. After telling her she contemplated coming home but I assured her everything was fine and that she needed to stay. Before getting off the phone with her I wanted to see if Annabelle could tell her anything through the phone. Now if any of you are not aware, the only thing we've been able to get Annabelle to say over a phone is a Ma, Da, or Wa with the occasional hello. Her lips always become as tight as a clam when you stick a phone in front of her and she just kind stares at the phone. I didn't really think she would say much other than hello. I prompted her, however, to tell Katie that she loved her and in a small miracle that I can only believe was God working through Annabelle, she gave Katie a loud, clear, and audible "I LOVE YOU MOMMY!" that brought Katie, JoJo, Rabbit, and me to tears. It was truly a blessing from God to let us know that everything was going to be alright. It was small in the grand scheme of things but very large to us that night and in that situation. It gave Katie a little peace to help her get through this situation while she was alone in Colorado. God gave us tender hug to let us know that He was there with us and everything was going to be alright.

Thank You & God Bless,

Ben