Dublin it is!

My sister had a really good friend that we went to church with back in jr. high. They've kept in touch through the years and we girls have adopted her as a sister. Kim has invited us to come stay with her at her home in Dublin. So we're going on the ultimate road trip, except we're flying!!! We fly out to Copenhagen, then on to Dublin, where all sorts of girl adventures will ensue. There is guaranteed to be tons of conversation, food, adventure and late night giggles. Some of my favorite things on earth!


Did I ever have a morning today. It started just before 3am. Lewis grabbed me and said urgently, "Liam needs you!"


I shot out of bed and was halfway down the stairs when Liam flew from his room in a panic.


I've seen croup tons of times. It always strikes in the middle of the night. Out of nowhere. Usually, I'm up in the mountains out of cell phone range. The first couple of times, it really scared me. Once I knew what to do, it was no big deal.


I've never seen croup like this. There was the trademark bark of a cough, but in between, there was this struggle to breathe. It was a horrible gasping, frantic sound. I have a kid with asthma, so I thought an albuterol treatment would help. It turns out, the answer is no. Croup affects the upper part of the respiratory system, and albuterol only helps the lower, unaffected part. If your child ever scares you to death in the middle of the night, cold night air is best. That's what the nurse told me. I rushed him to the ER after his father gave him a blessing. Thank goodness it was a short drive. It was surreal to be talking to him in this cheerful, reassuring voice, encouraging him to keep breathing. He did, and we made it. The crisis was over pretty quickly, and we were back in bed by 4:30. I had a hard time waking up this morning though.


I had another blow when I found out that the two giant bags on fruit I'd sent downstairs to the basement fridge were put in the freezer instead. "Put them in the fridge, not the freezer!" I'd repeated several times. It seems I should have made use of smoke signals too, because the message wasn't clear.


I'm almost laughing about it, maybe tomorrow. Since there was no other fruit in the house, and I felt like they deserved it, the older boys got rock-hard oranges in their lunches.


I decided to call it a day at 8:30 am. I curled up on the couch and turned off my brain. We watched this movie. Liam didn't mind that it wasn't in English. What a movie! I had no idea that over a million women in third world countries have their lives ruined by labor injuries that can be easily fixed! It's so sad, it makes me want to do something about it.




After that, it was all a blur. We (Liam) watched multiple episodes of Zelda from 1989, then Bob the Builder, and ultimately Barney. I stayed passed out on the couch. Now, at 4:52 in the afternoon, I'm almost ready to start my day. Good Morning!