A parent's nightmare and God's gifts 35-47
Today was one of those days. One of those "Will you still be thankful if...?" days.
The day crescendoed when Abel and I prepared to pick up Adrianna from the birthday tea party she attended. But of course, because I'm one of those people, I had to do just one more thing before we left. I had to wash the grimy little hand prints off the back sliding door.
I pulled the Windex out from under the sink, grabbed a few paper towels, cleaned the inside of the door, and then stepped onto the back step to spray the outside of the door. As I wiped, I watched Abel come up to the door and snap the lock down into place. He's been doing this "for fun" lately, but Scott and I have always been able to unlock it for each other.
My heart got tight. "Abel. Abel, unlock the door for Mommy." He smiled, enjoyed his game, and tapped at the handle as I did. "Abel, lift it up -UP!" He kept tapping and smiling.
"Stay calm," I chanted in my head. "Take inventory." I had no shoes. I was locked in the backyard. Abel was locked in the house. The garage door was broken; I couldn't use the key pad to open it. The sink cupboard was open, giving Abel full access to any of the chemicals underneath (YIKES!). My neighbors across the street were out-of-town.
"Start next door," I instructed myself. I left Abel staring at me through the glass, walked barefooted through the backyard, opened the back gate, and went next door. As I waded through the construction workers re-stuccoing the house, I interrupted the man sealing up the front door. I rang. I knocked. I knocked. "Ohh, please." Finally, the man checked around and found out the owners were gone.
"Abel's inside alone. ABEL'S INSIDE ALONE!" My internal clock was ticking with each minute of delay.
As quickly as my bare feet allowed me, I left our cul-de-sac and went onto the next street. With every step, I felt I was neglecting my child... Home Alone. I tried our friend's house. No answer. Went next door, and tried our next friend's house. No answer.
Finally went to a fourth house. Heard a vacuum running. Hope.
As calmly and quickly as I could, I explained, "I live over there. My son locked me out of the house. He's stuck in. I'm stuck out. Can I use your phone??"
The sympathetic older woman quickly grabbed her phone. "Do you have someone who can help?" She asked. "I hope so."
My father-in-law answered on the third ring. "Thank you, Lord!"
"Hi. It's me. Abel locked me out...."
I thanked the neighbor, ran back home on my now very cold and hurting feet, and tried the front door. Locked, of course. As I went up to it, I looked in the window and saw Abel leave the back door and come running to the front door. I began talking to him through the door, asking him to open it for Mom, hoping to keep him focused on something safe until my father-in-law arrived.
Abel stayed there at the front door with me. So close, yet so far away.
I prayed constantly. My father-in-law said he didn't have a key. Our only hope was that he could somehow get the broken garage door open so that we could get inside.
"Abel, open the door. Open the door for Mommy." I could hear his little voice inside. Heard him grunting and trying the knob. Finally, I heard him whimper, "Mom. Dad."
Tears threatened. I couldn't cry. I needed to have my head on straight to solve this problem. "Help me to be thankful. Help me to be thankful..."
And then my father-in-law arrived. Always calm and collected, he assessed the situation. He tried using the snow shovels on the front porch to push under the garage door. They were too big to squeeze in. Then he removed two crow bars from his truck (did he bring those just in case or did he just keep them in there??), and within a minute, I heard the door going up.
Before he even had it four feet off the ground, I was under it, and inside, with Abel in my arms, nearly crying again.
Never want to do that again.
Must give a key to a neighbor.
Exhausted.
And now for my thankful list for today...
35. Finding a neighbor who let me use her phone.
36. Having my father-in-law at home to answer the phone. (The only reason he was home was because he was feeling crummy from the cold Abel gave him!)
37. My father-in-law bringing the tools to get into the garage right away.
38. Enjoying warmish temperatures, so that my feet didn't freeze while I was waiting barefoot outside.
39. God's hand keeping Abel safe from the dangers inside the house.
40. Finding Bob's Red Mill mixes at our grocery store without rice or gluten for Adrianna.
41. Abel loving yogurt.
42. Adrianna being inspired by the raisin board book. As we read it to Abel and didn't have any raisins to complete the activities, her imagination worked to inspire her to create pretend raisins and a pocket on the back to put them in.
43. Week two of Abel napping without us putting him to sleep!
44. Making up a song with Adrianna after her bath. In those tentative minutes between her shivering while drying off and getting dinner into her empty tummy, and a song was just the trick to keep her from losing her cool.
45. Adrianna finding that her corn bread looked like a chair.
The day crescendoed when Abel and I prepared to pick up Adrianna from the birthday tea party she attended. But of course, because I'm one of those people, I had to do just one more thing before we left. I had to wash the grimy little hand prints off the back sliding door.
I pulled the Windex out from under the sink, grabbed a few paper towels, cleaned the inside of the door, and then stepped onto the back step to spray the outside of the door. As I wiped, I watched Abel come up to the door and snap the lock down into place. He's been doing this "for fun" lately, but Scott and I have always been able to unlock it for each other.
My heart got tight. "Abel. Abel, unlock the door for Mommy." He smiled, enjoyed his game, and tapped at the handle as I did. "Abel, lift it up -UP!" He kept tapping and smiling.
"Stay calm," I chanted in my head. "Take inventory." I had no shoes. I was locked in the backyard. Abel was locked in the house. The garage door was broken; I couldn't use the key pad to open it. The sink cupboard was open, giving Abel full access to any of the chemicals underneath (YIKES!). My neighbors across the street were out-of-town.
"Start next door," I instructed myself. I left Abel staring at me through the glass, walked barefooted through the backyard, opened the back gate, and went next door. As I waded through the construction workers re-stuccoing the house, I interrupted the man sealing up the front door. I rang. I knocked. I knocked. "Ohh, please." Finally, the man checked around and found out the owners were gone.
"Abel's inside alone. ABEL'S INSIDE ALONE!" My internal clock was ticking with each minute of delay.
As quickly as my bare feet allowed me, I left our cul-de-sac and went onto the next street. With every step, I felt I was neglecting my child... Home Alone. I tried our friend's house. No answer. Went next door, and tried our next friend's house. No answer.
Finally went to a fourth house. Heard a vacuum running. Hope.
As calmly and quickly as I could, I explained, "I live over there. My son locked me out of the house. He's stuck in. I'm stuck out. Can I use your phone??"
The sympathetic older woman quickly grabbed her phone. "Do you have someone who can help?" She asked. "I hope so."
My father-in-law answered on the third ring. "Thank you, Lord!"
"Hi. It's me. Abel locked me out...."
I thanked the neighbor, ran back home on my now very cold and hurting feet, and tried the front door. Locked, of course. As I went up to it, I looked in the window and saw Abel leave the back door and come running to the front door. I began talking to him through the door, asking him to open it for Mom, hoping to keep him focused on something safe until my father-in-law arrived.
Abel stayed there at the front door with me. So close, yet so far away.
I prayed constantly. My father-in-law said he didn't have a key. Our only hope was that he could somehow get the broken garage door open so that we could get inside.
"Abel, open the door. Open the door for Mommy." I could hear his little voice inside. Heard him grunting and trying the knob. Finally, I heard him whimper, "Mom. Dad."
Tears threatened. I couldn't cry. I needed to have my head on straight to solve this problem. "Help me to be thankful. Help me to be thankful..."
And then my father-in-law arrived. Always calm and collected, he assessed the situation. He tried using the snow shovels on the front porch to push under the garage door. They were too big to squeeze in. Then he removed two crow bars from his truck (did he bring those just in case or did he just keep them in there??), and within a minute, I heard the door going up.
Before he even had it four feet off the ground, I was under it, and inside, with Abel in my arms, nearly crying again.
Never want to do that again.
Must give a key to a neighbor.
Exhausted.
And now for my thankful list for today...
35. Finding a neighbor who let me use her phone.
36. Having my father-in-law at home to answer the phone. (The only reason he was home was because he was feeling crummy from the cold Abel gave him!)
37. My father-in-law bringing the tools to get into the garage right away.
38. Enjoying warmish temperatures, so that my feet didn't freeze while I was waiting barefoot outside.
39. God's hand keeping Abel safe from the dangers inside the house.
40. Finding Bob's Red Mill mixes at our grocery store without rice or gluten for Adrianna.
41. Abel loving yogurt.
42. Adrianna being inspired by the raisin board book. As we read it to Abel and didn't have any raisins to complete the activities, her imagination worked to inspire her to create pretend raisins and a pocket on the back to put them in.
43. Week two of Abel napping without us putting him to sleep!
44. Making up a song with Adrianna after her bath. In those tentative minutes between her shivering while drying off and getting dinner into her empty tummy, and a song was just the trick to keep her from losing her cool.
45. Adrianna finding that her corn bread looked like a chair.
46. Watching "Wheel of Fortune" with the kids after dinner, and hearing Abel say, "Lull," every time he heard a contestant say, "L."
47. The garage door people repairing the garage door tonight!
Comments
This would SO happen to me! In fact, perhaps it did with P and I have blocked it from my memory!
Ha!!
I am so thankful that everything worked out ok...and you are amazing to be able to find praise after that! Keep looking up!