Christmas to be remembered!

This week was busy with going to the hospital, adoption meeting, getting groceries the day before Christmas and the town being fuller than I’ve ever seen, so it took twice as long to do everything! We came home, unloaded the van and put those things away, changed our clothes and left to go to Enrique Becerra’s house for the evening. The home was invited for supper and caroling. They are a Mexican family that comes to church once in a while. They had made a delicious meal of tamales for us. Then Greivin shared the Christmas story with everyone. The children really enjoyed going away and we had a very nice evening there.

This forenoon then we fixed food and got our Christmas meal ready. Ham, mashed potatoes, rice & beans, salad, homemade bread, tea, and 3 different kinds of cream pie. Regina and Bethany did a great job of decorating the tables and making it special for everyone.

   Decorating gingerbread cookies      

After lunch was cleaned up I sat down to relax a bit and listen to Greivin’s mother tell stories to the children. After just a little bit I saw Nevin come rushing up to the front door clutching his arm and there was blood! I opened the door and he said, “I need stitches.” I told him we want to look at it so we went to the kitchen and I took one look and said, “You’re right!” There was a cut 3” long across his arm and if he let go of his arm it stood open at least 1 1/2”. So I told him to go to our house but we only made it to the couch til he had to sit down. The boys got Lorne and I helped Nevin to the van. Lorne got in to go and the van was dead! So he got the truck and off we went! I held his arm together while he hung his head between his knees to keep from fainting. On the way he told us what had happened. Some of the home boys got knives for Christmas and the one was out there by Nevin playing with his knife. Nevin was watching Greivin do something with the tractor and then turned to the boy and the knife caught his arm. We went to the Red Cross and the man there took a look and said to come on in. Well, he searched for the Dr. but couldn’t find him so he said we need to go over to the hospital. I was still putting pressure on the arm and carrying it as back outside we went. There was an ambulance driver and he wanted to see too! When he saw it he said to come over to the ambulance to dress it. Then he said that they can get us over to the hospital faster and get faster service, so into the ambulance we went. They told Lorne where we were going and off we went again! Only this time with lights and sirens! I tried not to laugh and just buckled up for the ride! The one man was cleaning and bandaging the arm on the way and the other racing across town. When we got to the hospital we got immediate service so that was a plus. We weren’t there long until two policemen came in and wanted to know what happened. We had told them he was cut with a knife and they were there to be sure that he hadn’t been in a fight! After looking and asking a few questions they were on their way again. The Dr. did a good job of sewing it up and when we were ready to leave I asked about paying. He said, “Oh, nothing for this day!” Well, thank God! An ambulance ride, an emergency room visit with lots of stitches and no charge. What a blessing! We came back and counted our blessings and so ends this eventful Christmas.

The ‘after’ picture. So wish I had a ‘before’ but somehow didn’t think of a camera until later!