Last week in Junction
/Here within lies the tale of our last week in Grand Junction, CO. The safe haven that has held us since our vacation turned move after the evacuation from Turkey in March. I apologize for typos, switches between future and past tense verbiage and any other ramblings that lack sense - my brain, as of late, feels the size of a pea.
Sunday: We attend our last Sunday at River of Life Alliance church as Rob as head pastor - so weird and so sad. - Luke comes down with a significant fever - we attend Rob and Lyn's going away Luau at a park and Joel gets stung by a bee
Monday: pack like crazy - run as many errands as I can pack in while Carolyn is at the house with the boys because who knows what the rest of the week will hold- Luke is miserable - Joel's bee sting seems abnormal... Luke can't swallow anything and we discover white spots in the back of his throat, so we take him in to an after hours clinic (After I spend 40 minutes on the phone begging and explaining our weird circumstances and answering questions to form a patient chart for him so that they can approve him as a patient and get him in) for a rapid strep test that comes back negative (as well as a two day culture that comes back negative) but start him on antibiotics even so. I will say, in the 9 years we've been parents we have NEVER had a child on antibiotics. Nope. Not once. -
Luke's got strep and I await a long coming vertigo attack
Tuesday: Joel's 5th birthday - I have another hearing test and ear injection during nap time, and am told at those appointments that my hearing has decreased so drastically that my hearing aid is no longer useful, so it's taken away. (way more heart breaking than I would have figured), and that surgery is the next recommendation since the injections seem to be providing only minimal improvement for a short amount of time. Joel's bee sting has grown, is red, hot and has a hard disc of tissue surrounding the sting spot and he says that his whole arm hurts and he can't hold a spoon with shaking..... Josh asks me very specific questions and decides that he, too, needs antibiotics to fight the cellulitis that is forming. - birthday dinner, cake, presents and party for Elijah and Joel with Carolyn and Chandler in attendance.
Wednesday: head to the gym now that Luke has not had a fever for over 24 hours - go pick up Joel's meds and get him started on that - 2nd child on antibiotics in one week after 9 years of NOTHING! Did I mention this is the first EVER?! THIS WEEK! HA! - head to pick up Uhaul trailer and get swindled in price not knowing my husband had been quoted one amount and they charged me $160 more after royaling confusing me with 30 minutes of waiting and various questions and explanations about extra charges (I should give them the benefit of the doubt, but I'm having a hard time doing that) - start loading trailer - Rob and Lyn head out for the afternoon and Cara leaves as well. I'm fixing lunch for the boys when a vertigo attack hits so I take zofran immediately since I'd already eaten most of my lunch and then down a valium to try to stop the attack - I make them scarf their lunches so I can lay down before it worsens and everyone is down for naps by 12:20. I pass out for 2 hours and wake up being able to hear better and feeling mostly functional. Thank you, sweet Jesus, for always providing! I write my audiologist to ask if I can have my hearing aid back, or if insurance is still putsing around paying for it and if that is mostly why he took it away.
We were all supposed to go to Bananas Fun Park for Elijah and Joel's birthday fun time but Lyn and I stay home with Luke so we can pack, and because I couldn't quite walk totally straight yet.
Thursday: Joel starts complaining of a sore throat and has a low grade fever - hahahaha. Oh my goodness! - continue loading trailer, so goodbye to my friend Julie after running errands together during nap time, and then say goodbye to my sweet helper and friend, Carolyn, after 3 solid months of being blessed tremendously by her help with the boys and keeping up with the house. - Last dinner as a large family on the back deck - email back and forth with my audiologist and come to the conclusion that unless I want to pay the 3k + for the hearing aid, I need to wait for insurance to come through on it and he'll mail it to me when it's covered. There would be a lot of, "huh?"s on this trip. - Load everything except what we need overnight in the morning and crash into bed.
Friday: Friday held breakfast as a big family, loading final things, making an emergency run to Walgreens to load up on ibuprophen, tylenol and kids protein drinks for Joel who can barely swallow anything and is feverish and miserable, saying goodbye to Cara for a good long while as she heads to China in the next couple of weeks, and saying goodbye to the family home in Grand Junction as Rob and Lyn pack it up for their move to Omaha. It was gut wrenching to drive away - but good to be done with that painful part of the process.
Like happened when we left the island last summer and drove across Europe, I don't think the heavy hitting crying and grieving that loss will come until I'm able to settle in once we get to North Dakota and finally come off auto-pilot. That may be when I am fully able to process leaving Turkey as well. Right now, it's survival mode as I drive these boysins and this 2000 pound trailer across the country over the next month or so. I'm utterly exhausted already, but I am fully confident that Christ is sufficient and that he will continue to provide in beautiful ways right when I need help!
