owen vs the nail

so today was awesome. morning wake up call from my neighbors letting me know my car was broken into last night... thankfully, the thieving ruffians didn't seem interested in month-old french fries, child-sized bike helmits, or a miscelaneous collection of strawberry shortcake paraphernalia, (truth, now, how many of you knew that word had an 'r' in it?) little golden books, and rocks. (whew... dodged that bullet!) you have no idea how many times i have thanked God for how much i dont have. in passing, i have a small obsession with getting rid of stuff... but that is a topic for perhaps another day. (a painfully dull day, no doubt)


and on to part deux of the day that was awesome. it was hot today, and oddly humid and the kids were going buggy so i told them we'd go to the pool after naomi woke up from her nap. they were so excited, they decided to don their swim attire RIGHT THEN, so they could be ready to go the second she made her first peep. incredibly, they made so much noise getting ready to wait for the baby, that they woke her up. (cheers from the kids)


'ok, guys,' i said, 'go play in the backyard for a minute while i get naomi ready.' delightful bunch that they are, they immediately obey, raging out the back yard with requisite hoops and hollers. precisely 37 seconds later, i hear a bloodcurdling scream accompanied by a chorus of gasps. oh no.


i dash outside, diaperless baby on hip, and find max with his arm around his screaming brother's waist, helping him hobble to the house. there is half of a three inch galvanized nail sticking out of the bottom of his left foot. annika is following in their wake, with her hands folded and her head bowed. praying. girl knows where to go for help.

(apologies for the sad and pathetic picture above... i thought of taking a pic of the foot with the nail still IN it... but then i thought that would just be cruel... so THEN i thought, ok, ill just take a picture of the nail after i get it out... and THEN i realized that the batteries in the camera were dead... so... moot.... carry on)


i carry owen inside, he's still screaming and begging me not to take it out. after about 10 minutes of me hugging him and explaining WHY he can't live life with 1 1/2 inches of nail protruding from his foot, and him STILL not being convinced... i grab (kindly and lovingly) him by the shin and yank it out. it evidently wasn't the cataclysmic horror that he had anticipated, but there was still the threat of mom and her ubiquitous bottle of hydrogen peroxide... the screaming continued.

so, like any good military strategist, i switched tactics. the offending piece of hardware was removed, time to be comforting mom. poor kid was in shock, and his leg was shaking and there was this panicky animal look on his face. so i administered love and calm and tylenol. then we decided to swing by the ER.

rest of the story in a nutshell: he's fine, he got an x-ray (to check for bone chipping), and a bandaid. i had a particularly nice time, especially when i realized that in all the hullabaloo, i had forgotten to change out of my 'hanging around the house' t-shirt, which has a giant gash of a hole in the sleeve... harried mother in tatters and rags, kid with a nail in his foot, three hyped up little ones in tow... we make an impression.

and so, here, at the end of a day (just one, and only ever one at a time - isn't our God good) with everyone finally asleep, and the house quiet (messy, but quiet) i can breathe a prayer of gratitude for all the blessings. i have all my kids here, (mostly) unharmed, healthy, loving and kind; i have an inexplicable peace knowing that God is intimately aware of each silly happening, and not only aware, but the author of each one, using even (ok, lets face it, we humans don't learn too much from ease and convenience) the stressful and overwhelming events to shape us more and more into the likeness of his Son. all praise and glory, Lord.

and finally, the moral(s) for today:
     1. dont let the kids run around barefoot in the backyard.
     2.  keep teaching kids that praying for each other is the FIRST line of defense.
     3. either sew up the rips right away, or toss the shirt. its not worth the potential humiliation.