So this is Christmas...

Let me just start by saying, "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"


Ok, now I feel better. I just have to write down the events that occurred today in our attempt to make it home for Christmas. I don't know how we survived the day, but the Lord was with us the WHOLE time!!


It all started at 5:00am this morning. The alarm was going off and I was fighting the strong urge to ignore it and fall back asleep, but we had a plane to catch so I had to get up and going. From my previous post you will remember that we are trying to recouperate from Evelyn having Pneumonia and an ear infection and myself having a serious sinus infection and ear infection as well...so you can imagine the amount of sleep we are all going on since last Thursday!! Anyways, we get everyone ready and loaded in the car and my father-in-law drove us in our van to the airport.

We were on the main stretch of highway before the airport terminals and we see 2 deer jump across the road right in front of us and we all say "Man, that was close!!" Then about a second later another deer jumped out in front our moving vehicle that was going 45 mph and WHAM SMACK HIT POW CABOOM...we hit the deer. It jolted the van pretty good and scared Evelyn into tears, but thankfully we are all ok and we didn't spin out or anything. The deer, however, we watched it helicopter away across the other side of the road and into the ditch. There was nothing we could have done to avoid hitting it because it came out of no where.

When we pulled up into the terminal, we got out and our jaws just dropped at how much damage was done to the van from a little ol' deer! It was covered in deer hair/fur and it was crunched and the headlight was broken and the hood was smashed and dented in and it was smoking. OH DEAR! (no pun intended). Well, we had a flight to catch so calling the police or my insurance agent was not a priority at the moment - we were just praying that my father-n-law would be able to drive it home safely - which he did. So we hit a deer - that is just the beginning...

...We board our flight - on time - and we had smooth sailing for about an hour. Evelyn was watching her favorite movie, Mary Poppins, on the DVD player and then she started to squirm in her seat. I thought she was just being silly so I ignore her. Well, she gets more and more fidgety so I pick her up to put her back in her seat and she is soaking wet! She is on an antibiotic that has a side effect of diahreah - yuck! She wet through her pants and onto her silky - not good! So I change her and thankfully (I was proud of myself that I packed an extra outfit for her) and we are good to go, right? Wrong...as the pilot begins to bring the plane down the altitude change was so strong that instantly ALL of our ears were in extreme pain. Since Evelyn and I both have ear infections, it was extremly painful and she imediatly goes into an unconsolable fit. So my ears are ready to explode in my head and I am struggling with Evelyn who is flailing and whailing and screaming and kicking and scratching and...doing everything in her power to be put down and I am doing everything in my power to contain her since we are landing and we have to stay confined and belted in our seats!!

For those of you who have traveled by plane, you know that when a plane begins to desend it doesn't take 5 minutes or 10 minutes or 15 minutes...it's a gradual desent over about 25-30 minutes!! So imagine this struggle for that long. Not to mention that Gordon and I had to be seperated by an isle because the plane doesn't have enough oxygen masks for ticketed passengers and infants in laps. So Gordon is across the isle from me and as I look to him for encouragement or help during this struggle -even though he is holding Claire and I know he really can't help me - I look to him and low and behold he's got a bloody nose and he is trying to stop his nose from bleeding all over the place while holding Claire!!! Could this morning get any worse???

I had to just laugh. We hit a deer, our van is broken, Evelyn messes her outfit and blanket on the plane, our ears are bursting from the pressure and Gordon has a nose bleed. Really? Really.

We finally land in Denver and were greeted by anxious grandparents who are so excited to have us and we are SO excited to finally start enjoying Christmas with our family!



phew!