Going Back

Last week was quite unusual and so I am just now getting slightly caught up. Samara started running a fever on Monday and that night it kept getting higher and she would not drink or eat. So I took her to the dr. on Tuesday. Poor baby had a double ear infection and had to get a shot. Unfortunately she ran a 104 to 105 temperature all day Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday her temperature was lower but I stayed home with her since she had been so sick and we had no sleep for the previous 3 nights.



Here is a picture of Samara's eye. It was so swollen and matted when she woke up Tuesday morning. I felt so bad for her but she had a smile for me anyway.

Tuesday night we received one of those phone calls that you always dread. We had just gone to bed when we received a phone call from our best friends in NY. Gee Yip, a board member and very good friend from our church there had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. They later determined it was a heart problem that he never knew about. We felt so torn but knew that we could not travel to NY with Samara being so sick and with ticket prices over $450 per ticket. So we accepted that we could not be with our friends in there time of need. On Thursday night I received a phone call from my best friend. She stated the funeral was on Friday night and asked if there was anyway possible we could make it. I told her Samara was better but we could not afford tickets unless they were under $300. I told her I would check again but really didn't think much of it. Too make a long story short....we got tickets for a little over $200! At 8:00 on Thursday night we started packing and making preparations to go to NY the next day. I would love to write about all the awesome things God did to allow us to make it to NY in time for the funeral but you would probably get tired of reading my writing so I am just going to say that God granted us favor with the ticketing agents we met and even though we were not scheduled to arrive in NY until 9:30 p.m. that night we were there at 5:15 and was able to attend the funeral at 7:00.

I must admit that I was so nervous about this trip that I almost made myself sick. Even though I hadn't slept for nights I could not sleep the night before leaving. We have not traveled back to NY since Samara's accident and I kept thinking, "What if something bad happens again?" "What is Samara gets the swine flu?", "What is she gets sick again and won't sleep and the trip is a nightmare?" I even suggested that Dustin should go alone and I would stay home with her but he told me I needed to get over my fears.

It amazes me when I think back to this fastest trip ever to NY how God's hand was upon us. We definitely wished we were going under different circumstances but it could not have went smoother. Samara did wonderful! She is quite the little traveler! She did great on the planes, she handled well the many, many people that loved and held her that she didn't even know, she took her naps when she got tired, and she slept all night both nights we were there. We got to love on our friends that suffered such a great loss, we got to see friends that we had not seen the last few times we had visited, and we were able to visit Iris (Dustin's 2nd mom) who had a major surgery that week. We even squeezed in a couple of hours of relaxation with our best friends Robert and Deidre the night before we left. The trip was super busy but we felt so fulfilled as we traveled home. I am so amazed that after 3 years our family in NY welcomed us with open arms and it felt like we had never left. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. To Mildred, Millicent, and Alyssa - we love you! We are praying for God's peace and strength during this extremely difficult time.

Here are some pics of Samara when we first got to NY and playing on the plane! She was so good!