Hello again! I must say that we have had quite the adventures since the last time I posted on here! Don't worry, I will not keep you in suspense this time. I will tell you every detail if you really want me to! So, let me begin with yesterday morning...
I believe in the last post I told you that we were going on a "surprise adventure." Well, that adventure was to go look at a house that is for sale. I know, it is not exciting for you all, but it is for us. I don't know about you, but I love looking at houses. One of my favorite TV shows is called "House Hunters" that just shows people looking at houses, and then tells you which one they buy. But it is more fun to go look in person. We did not go look at this house just for fun, we really are looking for a house to buy. So, let me start from the beginning.
When we moved here, we did not have a place to live. So we came here and began looking. After a number of disappointments and a bit of discouragement, the Lord brought the perfect house to us. It is a mini-home that the manufacturers were desperate to sell. We fell in love with it right away, and came to them with an offer considerably lower than what they were asking, and they took it right off the bat. It all happened so fast, that we had to find a land quickly to put it, so our only option was a trailer park. Yep, that's right. We are "trailer trash!" Just kidding.
Anyways, we love our home, but hate the fact that we have to rent the land each month. The money that we spend renting the land seems like such a waste to me. We could be using that somewhere else, or add it on to our mortgage. So, ever since then, we have been looking for either a piece of land for sale, or another house to buy. Well, land seems to be quite pricey here. There are a couple spots for sale that we love, but are not willing to pay the price they are asking . So, Matt is constantly looking online for houses.
This particular house he first saw online the week Leila was born. It is a house that was built 25 years ago and is in the area that we would like to be in. It is on about 1 acre of land and has the most spectacular view! It is a 5 bedroom house with 2 car garage and a 2 story barn in the back. Well, we sorta "put it on the back burner" for a while. We have looked at a couple other houses, but none that worked out.
Well, Matt found out that there was an open house on this place on Sunday, so he went. We were thinking that the reason that it has not sold is because it was probably a major fixer-upper. But he went anyways just to see. He found that it is not a major fixer-upper in the structural sense, just the cosmetic sense. It is all decorated in the ugly 80's style, and, unless you have an imagination, you won't like it the second you step in the door. But the layout is great and it has great potential. So, Tuesday he took me back and I love it too. It does need some choice paint and flooring changes, but it is all livable - just ugly! So, we are praying about it. We did find out that, because of the situation, the seller is getting a bit desperate to get rid of it, so we may be able to really negotiate a great deal. So, we will see what this brings! Of course, we would need to sell our trailer and all that fun stuff. But, we are seeking the Lord's will in this matter. We shall keep you posted on this.
Okay, so that was yesterday morning. Then, last night was youth group. We were down in number a little, but still had 12 show up. It was great fun. In our time with the girls, I shared my "life story" with them. I only did it to kinda give them an idea of who I was, and also to show them that, even though God allows "bad" things into your life, it is His perfect plan, and He will never fail. So, after we were done, one of the girls came up to me, gave me a big hug, and said, "Wow! You have one (blank) of a life story!" (choice word removed by me! :-) ) This was special to me because this is a girl who is new to our youth group, but one who is struggling a bit with her life. She is in trouble a lot, so her parents send her to youth group hoping it will keep her out of trouble. I hope that you all will pray for me as I try to make a godly impact on these young girls' lives!
Okay, so then we came home and went to bed. Then, the worst, most scary night I have had yet as a parent happened. Around 1:30 am, Liam woke up absolutely screaming. I went to check on him, but could not calm him down, so I took him to Matt to see if he would have any luck. It was then that Liam began thrashing around in Matt's arms, and was doing this weird thing with his head and his eyes kept looking up at the sky. Then he would look at me or Matt, but we could tell he was not really seeing us. He was just crying and crying, and was inconsolable. This went on for what felt like forever, but was really only about 5 mins. We had no idea what was going on, and I was scared to death. We both got up, got dressed and were getting ready to go to the ER. It really seemed as if he was having a seizure. But soon, he calmed down and just wanted to be held. Matt got on the Internet to look up symptoms of seizures and stuff. I am not really sure why we did not continue to the hospital, but we just felt that he was okay then. We decided to wait until morning and take him in to our family doctor. We gave him some water, were up with him for about an hour longer, then put him back to bed. He played in bed a little bit, then went back to sleep.
Well, at the dr. today, we described everything that happened, and she seemed a bit concerned until she heard us say that he was crying and screaming the whole time. Then she said, "Oh, good. I was worried, but now I a not. It sounds exactly like he had a night terror." (I guess with a seizure, you do not cry and scream, but make a more guttural, "gurgling" sound.) Then she went on to explain what a night terror was. Matt had read about this last night too, so we were hoping that was what it was before we went to the dr. Also, our niece, Taylor, had these for quite a while some time ago.
Apparently, night terrors affect a small percentage of children (3-6%). There is not a real known cause for it. It is alot like when a person walks in their sleep. They are not in a state of total consciousness. I guess that, for kids, while sleeping, will move from one phase of sleep to another. It is not really a nightmare, but a "sudden reaction of fear"(says one article we read) during that transition. These usually only last a few minutes, and then the child will often go back to sleep. And they do not remember this ever happening.
So, we are to keep an eye on Liam, but that is what she thinks it was. After doing more research, we realize that all the descriptions of it match up with what happened. We have learned quite a bit about night terrors today. If you are interested in this, you can just google it and learn more! Oh, and amazingly enough, Leila slept through it all and did not wake until it was time to eat later in the morning!
It was such a scary time, but now that we know what it is, we know what to do if it happens again. But that was most definitely my scariest moment as a mother.
Well, I see that this is a VERY long post, but I just thought I would tell you all what was going on here! Matt and I are quite tired today because of last night, so I think I will go and sleep while I can! Until next time...
1 comment:
Yikers, Em! When I was reading your story I kept thinking about night terrors... they probably name them that because it's a terror for the parents too! I'm glad you all weathered it okay, and didn't have to spend hours in an ER too! Hope things work out with the house, if not this one then one somewhere. I'll be praying for you!
Post a Comment