Wednesday, April 16, 2008

God met me in Walmart

Liam woke up this morning, crying and crying. We shortly knew why... he had patches of this funky rash that was very swollen (very, very, very). Our pediatrician is on vacation of course, but fortunately there are always doctors available 7 days a week at the practice should you have an emergency.

Anyway, as soon as we walk in the door all the kids run to find a little seat in the waiting room except for Liam. He scans the waiting room, recalling the data of "why is it familiar here?," has the lightbulb moment, then enthusiastically waves and shouts "BYE BYE!!!" And tries to get the door back open ASAP.

Poor kid. We were there for him, too!

It was a nice slow afternoon there and we were brought right in. As soon as the nurse tried to weigh him the tears began. Oh my.

The doctor came in, and probably because I'm holding a baby and can't get Liam to stop crying, looks at me and says "Do you run an in home daycare or babysit?"

"No, these are my children." I say. "Ah." was his reply.

Ah, indeed. I looked at crying Liam and thought "That's how I feel too, I don't want to be in here anymore!" I was too tired for criticism.

So he has a bacterial skin infection, poor baby. We iced the cake by all waiting for the prescription at not so Super Walmart. Maybe they should call it "Super slow Walmart" since it took three times as long to fill as they said. I would have never intentionally waited over an hour with all the kids. Past nap time, past snack time, past mommy-needs-a-cup-of-afternoon-coffee-time, it was starting to get difficult to wait and only the image burned into my memory of what Liam's skin looked like kept me hanging in there to wait. In the homestretch of waiting, a wonderful man from our church walked in the door and said "Hey Katie! How's it going?"

I don't think I had to say anything for him to really know. He took the baby from me so he could walk her while I held Liam, who was next to hysterical at that point (after all, his skin HURTS!). And I just had to whisper a prayer of thanks to God for church family. Which also reminded me, at that moment of being very tired and stressed out God met me in Walmart, sending that extra pair of arms and help in that home stretch of waiting, that last 5 minutes when I was about to say "forget it, we're going home and we'll start the medicine tomorrow."

He knew that I needed reinforcements or I wouldn't make it and I get all choked up thinking that with all that goes on in the world, the Lord remembers me in those moments. As Jacob says in reply to the question of "How can you afford to have so many kids?" How can we afford not to? I would not otherwise have the humbling opportunities to put myself out there and trust that when I need him, God will meet me in Walmart.

6 comments:

Waitingonyou2 said...

What a wonderful post. I came across your blog via Big Mama's Fashion Fiesta.

:- )

Jenna Wood said...

I'm not always as good as I should be about noticing the miracles He provides when we are needing it. Good for you for realizing it and being grateful.

What an awful experience...do you run a daycare...sheesh. You should move to my state. It seems EVERYBODY in my county has 3-6 kids, so you'd be bothered a lot less about the numbers. (Shrug.)

I had a similar waiting experience at Rite Aid. It took an hour and 10 min to fill an antibiotic my 5 year old needed.

I asked the guy, "What do you want me to do?"

"Come in?" he suggested (I was in the drive through).

"I have 5 children," I told him holding up my hand for emphasis, "in PJ's with no shoes."

We ended up waiting in the car, letting the people behind us go, then pulling back into line. Rediculous. I might switch pharmacies...

Sarah O said...

Katie,
I'm so sorry you had such a rough time, and glad that God provided for you! He truly does remember us in all the little things doesn't he? The other day Kate and I were wishing for some brownies and when we went to see Gramma, she was just taking some out of the oven! God knew our desire and spoke to her, and she listened! And those were some yummy brownies!

brietta said...

I think sometimes in Christian-dom, we are so focused on the "big" miracles that we miss the little ones all around us. What a great testimony of God's provision for you-- and of you recognizing His provision!

Waiting for prescriptions might be my least favorite thing to do! I can't say I feel your pain, though, because the pharmacists here know me so well by now that they fill my prescriptions within 15-20 minutes every time. I guess this is one of the advantages to living in a rural area???

AudreyO said...

Wow..that was quite an experience. I found you through a blog contest.

Kelley said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog giveaway. I just love this story because it shows that God doesn't need to grandstand. He just loves his children, day by day.