"The" Ivy & "The" Oak

Answers anyone? The mystery plant is poison ivy/oak. Just to warn you- the last few days have been a blur- thus today will be an update and I'll be back tomorrow morning with more thoroughly formed thoughts & gratitudes.

Thursday was my preparation day. I prepared the laundry, the food and the house for my 2 day absence (Fri & Sat) to attend the Homeschool Conference in Searcy, AR. It took me all day to prepare to leave and I didn't actually pack until about 11pm Thursday night. Friday morning came all too quickly at 5am and I was out the door by 5:45am. I put the bills in the mailbox, ran the paycheck into town to the night deposit box & was on my way to Searcy by 6am.

I arrived to Harding University (beautiful Christian campus, by the way!!) at the time of registration and was soon on my way to hear the first keynote speaker of the day. I spent all day Friday at the convention attending seminars & looking at curriculum/talking to vendors. I enjoyed a nice dinner with some fellow homeschool moms/friends and retired to my hotel room by 8pm.

I set out to complete a long night ahead of me. Organizing thoughts, praying about curriculum, thinking about what seminars to attend Saturday & attempting to start a new, yearly prayer list for our children. In between all of that I took a bubble bath too....

Long story short, after only sleeping about an hour, my cellphone rang. My lovely husband was on the other end but wasn't sounding all that lovely at the moment. The only words I remember are, "You need to come home right now, I'm having some kind of allergic reaction." Talk about panic mode!! I was up, packed and out of the hotel room in less than 5 minutes. Searcy is about a 2 1/2 hr. drive to home so I knew it would be a while before I got there.

I called hubby again and asked him to call his sister to come and sit with the kids while he drove himself to the ER. After that phone call, I knew he'd never make it driving by himself. I pondered for about 3 seconds and then picked up my cellphone and called 9-1-1. I sent an ambulance to the house and they arrived the same time as hubby's sister.

Longer story short...hubby had a severe reaction to poison ivy/oak. He was taken by ambulance from our home, given an I.V. with epinephrine, steroids & benedryl on the way to the E.R. By the time I got home at 2:30am, he was just about to be released. I came home, checked blood sugars & headed back in the car to get hubby from the E.R. I'm told he looked a lot better upon coming home than at the time of the ambulance ride...

So, today I'm home- sleepy from only getting 3-4 hours sleep, but home.
Today I am grateful for:
Telephones
Family that lives close by and will come when they're needed
A 9-1-1 system that we can rely on
An ambulance that will/can come in a moment's notice
A reliable vehicle to bring me home in the middle of the night
A hospital that treated my husband immediately and prevented him from going into anaphalactic shock
Children who 'slept through it all'
And last but not least... a God who guides and protects through it all!!