scary

The past few days, we have had some scares.  I have always believed in guardian angels, and this week only made that belief even more solid.  Honestly, I think our family has an entire troop of them just assigned to us. Heaven knows, we need it.

Scare #1
I was upstairs doing one of a million things I do during the day, and I went downstairs to get something.  I thought William was eating his cereal, so I wasn't too concerned about his whereabouts.  Yeah, you think I would know by now that William is not predictable, and probably shouldn't be left alone...ever.

Anyway, as I came down the stairs William yelled for joy at seeing me and came running toward me. Normally, I love it when he does this, and I always catch him in a big bear hug.  This time was different.
 
In his hand was a huge butcher knife he had gotten from the knife rack on the counter. (it was supposedly out of reach of the kids)
Just as I began to try to calmly ask him for it, so he wouldn't freak out like I was inside, he tripped. 

Um yeah, go ahead and cringe.  I sure did. But, it gets even better.

He fell on top of Luke, who was sleeping in his car seat.  I think my heart literally stopped beating.
William began screaming, and so did Luke. In the one second it took me to get to William and Luke, a lot went through my mind.

A knife through Williams chest or stomach, or a knife through Luke's head.  I seriously got sick.

I pulled William off of Luke and frantically surveyed his and Luke's bodies, tears right on the brim.

To my complete shock, there was nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

The knife had stabbed into Luke's car seat less than an inch next to his head.  William was screaming because the handle of the knife had jabbed into his chest, right where his heart is.  It left a huge red mark and a welt, but at least it was the handle of the knife, not the blade.

The implications of what could have happened still haunts me, and totally freaks me out, but I also feel so grateful for the divine intervention we had in our home that day.

Lesson learned: Find a spot for the knives high enough that no child can get to them, and then put them up even higher than that.   And pray daily for safety, actually, make that hourly.

Scare #2
Early this morning around 4:30am, Ben and I awoke to Mary's voice calling for me. Her voice sounded frantic, scared and kind of far away.  It didn't sound like a normal bad dream yell.

It was enough to get both Ben and I out of bed in a hurry.  I quickly went into Mary's room, and she was not there.  I got really worried, but tried to tell myself that she must have gone down to the toy room for some reason.  Ben and I called for her....no answer. 

I started to rush down to the toy room, and stopped dead in my tracks.  The front door was wide open. The darkness of the morning and the snow falling were the only thing I could see.  In shock, I told Ben that the door was open and ran outside calling for my little girl.  Ben was right behind me.

I can't even type the thoughts that were going through my head, but I will say that I have never been so scared in my life. 2 seconds felt like 2 hours. 

We live in a good place, but it is a community of townhouses, and a few things have happened lately that have made me be a little more on alert.  The cops have been here twice, I have had a lady banging on our door, higher than a kite, asking for my phone. She used my phone (actually she had me use my phone) to text her estranged husband, who then continued to text me all day.  I was a phone service for a domestic problem, and their child who was missing. (but later found in the high ladies laundry room)  Awesome. That is its own story for another day though.

We have also had a really angry, big dude, come looking for the guy who used to live here. The tenant that was here before us, did not leave on good terms with many people I guess..including our landlord.  This big dude has come to the door demanding to talk to "james" and also parked outside our house and watched it, as if we were hiding this guy or something.

So, all of this was going through my mind as I was looking for my daughter who hollered and then vanished at 4:30 in the morning.

I continued to yell for Mary and look for any car speeding away or anyone running.  I was beyond horrified.  And then I saw her.

Mary was across the street and a few houses down.  She was in her shorts and tank top.  No shoes, no coat. It was snowing and very cold.  I yelled her name and ran to her, and she to me.

Mary was shaking like a leaf, and so was I.   Even though I was holding her, or more like clinging to her, it took me a while to register that she was ok.

Ben and I brought her back into the house, and she told us what happened.

She had come into our room for something, and couldn't see us for some reason. 

Those of you that have followed our blog, or know us well, know that Mary has pretty bad separation anxiety.  She is getting better with it, but she still can't be left alone.  If I am not in the same room as her in the house, she gets scared, really scared.   I have to tell her where I am, all the time. She cannot be left in the car, even if I am just running to get a Red Box.  She will completely panic.

So, when Mary couldn't see Ben and I, she completely freaked out.  She ran outside crying, and went to a neighbors house to get help.  I didn't find out until later this morning, that she had actually rang their doorbell and knocked several times.   Good morning neighbors...geesh

It shook all of us up quite a bit.  In fact, I never fell back to sleep, and Ben went back to sleep holding Mary, in our bed.  It totally freaked me out.  I was so grateful that Mary was here this morning, that I made chocolate chip pancakes for the first time ever. I hugged her about a thousand times and told her I loved her until she started rolling her eyes. 

Lesson learned:  Cherish every moment, every single one.   And even though the big huge down blanket is so cozy and fun to snuggle up in, at least have an arm or a leg hanging out, in case a child comes looking for you.

Scare #3
So this morning, I was a bit rattled, because of the above story.  I was very proud of myself though, for making chocolate chip pancakes, getting everyone dressed, feeding Luke, and even having the house cleaned up, all before taking Mary to school.  I was thinking about how the morning didn't turn out so bad after all, as I went to get the car keys.  Heck, we were even going to be early taking Mary for school. Wow!

Well, the keys weren't on the hook.  I checked the diaper bag, my purse, and my jacket.  No keys.  So, I called Ben to see if he knew where they were.  No luck.
And then the frantic run around to find the keys ensued. 
I was running all over, shouting orders to the older two to look in their rooms and other various places in the house.
Luke was bawling because he was hungry again.
William was in Mary's room getting into her "accessories."
I continued running all over.
Mary and Sam continued tearing the house apart helping me look.
Luke continued crying.
William came downstairs grinning covered in Marys bright red lip gloss and carrying fake keys.  He was so proud to have found the keys.  Silly boy,!
And so it continued, and the clock kept ticking.

I called Ben one more time, and he said that there might be a spare key in the gun safe.
So, I ran upstairs to where the gun safe is, but I couldn't reach it.
I had the phone in one hand and I grabbed a stool with the other.
I got the safe open, and Ben reminded me that there was a loaded gun in the safe and to be careful.
As I stood on my toes reaching around for the keys, I slipped.
I fell, and so did the safe with the loaded gun.
I dropped the phone and covered my head, waiting for the gun to go off and the safe to smash onto my head.
I felt the gun slam into my head and then watched it fall on top of Ben shoes before slamming into the wall.
And then the entire gun safe fell on top of me.
I sat there, crouched in a ball with my hands over my ears.  I think I was bracing for the sound of the gun going off.

The gun never went off.  I had some scratches, but no real harm done.

 Miracle...you betcha!

Mary and Sam and William all came running into the room and came to a screeching halt when they saw me on the floor, covered in the contents of our safe, gently picking up the loaded gun.

Sam, wide eyed, but totally matter of factly, said, "well, now we know where dad hides his gun."

Oh great.

I shuffled the kids out of the room, put everything back into the safe, locked it, and made sure it wouldn't open again without the code.

And yes, I got the dang car key.

Mary was late for school, and I was frazzled to no end, but once again, I was pouring my heart to the Lord, full of thanksgiving, for another tragedy spared.  As I apologized to Mary for making her late for school, she just hopped out of the car and said, "It's ok mom, I will just tell my teacher that you lost the car keys and  had a loaded gun and lots of money fall on your head."  And then she shut the door and walked into the school.  I sat there for a second and then laughed my head off as I drove away. It was so sad, but true.

Lesson learned: Don't talk on the phone, balance on a stool, and rummage through a 10+lb. safe above your head, with a loaded gun in it.  And make sure you know where the car keys are well before you need to go anywhere.

I still haven't found the keys. I can only imagine where they will be, if and when I find them.


On a lighter note, we drove by the house today and saw this.

They are putting the footings/foundation  in, even though it is snowing.  Yippee!

There are some guys down in the hole guiding the cement thingy.

Maybe I should bring those guys some hot chocolate.