close

Yesterday we took Matt to the airport, heading to NC for his Moscow Seminary meetings, and were looking for something fun and "normal" to do before heading to my sister's house.  Ikea was right in the middle, so we carted up and enjoyed walking through room after room, chatting and not rushing and not having a schedule.

When everyone got hungry, we ate and met a few little friends, and were finally wrapping up  at the very last section, the plants, before the warehouse and exit, when Lily and Sofie had to go to the bathroom.  Thankfully, the plant section had a bathroom, and so while Nora, Ben and I walked around that small area, Lily and Sofie went to the bathroom.

A few minutes later they came out, and as soon as Nora saw them, she, of course, remembered that SHE had to go to the bathroom, too.

"I'll take her!" my sweet Sofie offered, and grabbed Nora's hand. Lily, Ben and I wrapped up in the plants, me debating whether or not I really thought a few small succulents could safely make their way all the way home to Haiti.

A few minutes later, we were done, and Sofie and Nora were still in the bathroom.

Finally, after about five total minutes, I walked the few steps to the bathroom and pushed the door open and hollered, "Sofie, Nora, common' girls!"

Silence.

I opened the door all the way, peering under the stall.

Empty.

My heart immediately started to pound, and I flew out of the bathroom and crossed the hall and swung open the door to the men's bathroom (to the surprise of the man within) and looked around, "Sofie?"

They weren't there.

I had been there, right there, the whole time.  Suddenly, unknowingly, they had been missing for over five minutes. I pushed the cart, heart in my stomach, out to the HUGE warehouse, didn't see them. Back to the plants, the pillows before the plants, yelling, "Sofie! Nora!"

Nothing. Nowhere.  The place is HUGE. The place is huge. I KNOW they went to the bathroom, it was right there, they were gone.

They were gone.

I battled the sneaking idea that someone had taken them as I rushed through the warehouse to the first saleswoman I could find.  I explained, described the girls, and she immediately announced a Code 99,  gave all employees a description, and then they shut and locked all the doors.

As everyone ran into action (seriously, everyone was GREAT), locked the front doors, the sickening knowledge that if someone HAD taken them, they'd have had a full 5-8 minutes to already go straight through the warehouse and out the front doors. They'd already be gone.

"Jesus, where our my girls? You know where my girls are, show me where are my girls." I kept praying over and over again shakily, pushing Ben and holding Lily's hand, not sure whether to scour the ginormous place or to stay in one place.

After what felt like hours, someone radio'd someone, "One of our employees found them" and in another minute or two, he came around a corner herding two little braided blondies.

Of course, I burst into tears and prayers and thank you'd, holding two very un-traumatized and confused little girls for all they were worth.

"Where were you?" I kept asking, and Sofie, totally confused by my tears, kept saying, "We were still looking for the bathroom! I knew it was really close 'cause I was just in there, but I turned around and couldn't find it anywhere. We've been looking EVERYWHERE, and finally we made it a game, and Nora was laughing and laughing, and then this guy came up to us and asked if we were lost, and I told him NO, we're not lost! We're looking for the bathroom! And then he made us come with him and brought us to you! Why are you crying?"

And Nora, "Mom, I really gotta go to the bathroom! Sofie and I almost found it! Can she take me?"

Clearly, Sofie had mom's sense of direction. Also clearly, the five of us will be taking all bathroom trips from now on.  Then we all had to buy 99 cent cones and sit by the front for a while while I stared at them all and prayed more prayers and listened to them chatter.

There went our "something normal."

We spent the evening with cousins and attempted a rather wild cousin sleepover which resulted in a lot of girls in mama's bed and mama finally sleeping with Ben in a chair :)

After a nice morning with all the littles asking the question again, "Is this the last time? Will we see you again, or is this the last time for a really long time?" we got back to the Buckner's this afternoon, heard from Matt that meetings were good and finished...and then heard from Matt again that his 6 pm flight was delayed, delayed, delayed and finally cancelled due to the weather.

He is now driving from Charlotte to us (around 2 am) so we can get to Cornerstone UMC church tomorrow morning.

We tired :)

Carol recently suggested we need more boring in our lives, and I think she's right.

I'm very thankful God is on the throne, I'm very thankful that our family and your family and every family are His creation, made in His image, greatly loved by Him. I've very thankful He's our mighty Father, with me in Haiti, with me in Ikea, with me with or without Matt, with Matt while he drives, with my children with or without me, close.  

I'm thankful He is close, He is close.