From Sadness to Joy

Today was quite a day. First we figured out that Carter has strep throat which explains why he hasn't been eating or drinking for two days and is very crabby. He was stung by a bee on Sunday night and within 2 hours he had a full blown fever, but apparently the sting did not cause the fever. Weird. Hopefully my sad baby will be feeling better soon.

Now on to the real reason for this post...to share what happened at our house tonight. Just before dinner, Sam came running into the house with a HUGE smile on his face yelling, "Mom & Dad...come here! You've gotta see this!" Brian and I both ran outside to find our neighbor lady and her grandson (Sam's new best buddy) standing at our front door with a shoebox. Inside was a washcloth with something wrapped inside of it. The neighbor lady was giving me one of those looks like "help me" and handed me the box saying, "The boys found it in our backyard. I have no idea what it is or how it got there." Tentatively, I pulled back the washcloth to find a freaky looking baby animal...very new born...no hair....kind of alienish looking...and clearly suffering. You get the picture. Then Sam announces, "Mom! It's a baby puppy!"

And that's when I realized this was not going to be a fun conversation. At all.

Three adults stood staring at each other blankly waiting for someone to say something intelligent. Thankfully, Brian took over and did an nice job explaining to the boys that this "puppy" was not going to live and that the kind thing to do was to help it go to sleep...forever. Then I took two very sad and reluctant boys inside while Brian took care of business and buried it.

Backtrack...A few months ago, our favorite next door neighbor, "Neighbor Eddie" died from cancer. Sam and Eddie were best buddies and spent many hours just tooling around Eddie's yard. After his death, Sam didn't show much emotion, so I was surprised when tonight he started crying when he realized the puppy was going to die. I hugged him and reiterated Brian's wise words and after a few minutes thought he was okay. I started making dinner and Sam walked in and said, "Mom, I think I just need a few minutes alone." Then he went upstairs in his room and I could hear him balling. It was heart wrenching and of course, I started crying too and wanted to run in and rescue him, but I didn't. I think it was an important moment for him to grieve alone. Shortly thereafter he came down and seemed fine and never mentioned that he had been crying. I gave him another hug and told him I was proud of him for rescuing the puppy and being brave to do the right thing.

Now, on to the happy part of this story. Dinner was a little somber, but as we finished up, there was a knock on the door. It was the UPS man! Who doesn't love the UPS man?! Especially when he's delivering a Langejans's guitar!!!!! My hardworking husband has been faithfully saving his pennies (and dollars) for well over a year now, including birthday and Christmas money, to purchase a guitar. He has diligently been checking Craigslist and Ebay everyday looking and waiting for the moment when he could purchase the beloved "one". Normally I'm not a big proponent of costly "want" purchases over "need" purchases, but this man deserves it! I am so proud of how hard he works for our family. This past year, he was been working over 70 hours a week between two jobs and he is often exhausted both physically and mentally. But, he never makes any excuses and always makes time for us...his family. So, I was genuinely very excited when he bid on this guitar and won!

He says he wasn't kissing it in this picture, but I'm not so sure!

Not only was Brian super excited about this moment, but the big cardboard box that the guitar came in provided a great distraction for Sam. He and his neighbor buddy spent the rest of the evening climbing in and out of the box and decorating it into a rocket. I often wonder why I buy toys when a big ole cardboard box equals HOURS of fun and creativity?!

From sadness to joy...Lord you are good!