Home >> murphy week!

OK, so who is “Murphy” anyway—as in “Murphy’s Law?” I googled it and found this:

It was named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy, an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981, (a project) designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash.

One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, he cursed the technician responsible and said, “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.”

The contractor’s project manager kept a list of “laws” and added this one, which he called Murphy’s Law.

Well, my Murphy Week all started with a letter from our mortgage lender stating that our interest rate was going up in September, 08…

NOOOO, wait, we have a 30 year fixed loan!!!! A few phone calls later and frantic leafing through our closing papers revealed that we had indeed signed a ARM loan… We were snookered!! I’m outraged. Our monthly payment is going UP drastically! So, in light of no job in sight, we’ve turned all of our attention toward getting this house in tip-top shape to put in on the market in two weeks. We’ve been planning to do this since Nathan was born and kept putting the date up. Renovating a house is expensive and stressful! But now we’re on the fast track. We called the realtor and a team is coming next week to price the house, guide us on the miserable task of “staging” and away we go….

Of course our panic could all change in a moment if an interview miraculously became a job. Then we’d breathe.

Anyway, we’ve been cleaning, purging, fixing, and packing all week.

Then today….Nathan had an echo scheduled to check on the ASD hole in his heart. It was 6mm when he was born. The cardiologist and surgeon both said at 6 months that Nathan would most likely need to have surgery. Well at 24 months it had shrunk to 3mm. Surgery canceled. But we still needed to check it every 6 months…which was today. I dashed off to Nathan’s echo today as usual. I wasn’t late, but there wasn’t much time to spare. I pulled into the parking garage like I have at least 50 times… and… heard the most horrible sound on my van’s roof. A lady going to her car looked at me and put her hands up for me to STOP!!! Then it hit me…we still had the luggage carrier on our roof from our recent trip. I was trapped and holding up traffic… and Nathan’s appointment was in 12 minutes!!!! Nathan started to scream, Miika started to cry, asking me what happened, a parking attendant came out of the booth and suggested that I let all the air out of my tires. Huhh?? You’ve got to be kidding!!! I tried to call Paul to come rescue me, but my cell phone was dead. John, the parking guy, let me use his. I broke the news to Paul that I’d inadvertently smashed the luggage carrier, “I have to get to this appointment, I can’t reschedule…take 290 to Damen, go South to Taylor…” I was blocking 4 parked cars and all the incoming traffic. Somehow I managed to move the van back and forth to get out of the way. I entrusted John the parking guy with the key to my van, got the kids out, all Nathan’s files, stroller, purse, snacks, etc. and we ran to the appointment…arriving with 2 minutes to spare.

Nathan hates to go to any doctor. He fought with the nurse who wanted to get his blood pressure. He screamed when the cardiologist came at him with her stethoscope, and finally the poor radiologist had to work very fast to get a good look at his heart while he wiggled and screamed in my arms. By the time we were done both of us were covered in the gel that helps the echo-thingy slide on skin. Miika was simply the trooper and cheerleader. After all of that, there was no hole to be found. ASD ALL GONE! Whewwwwhhhhhh…

Miraculously, Paul had come, gone and rescued me. The van’s luggage rack was gone and the van was parked. As I loaded the kids, I said to Miika, “Mommy does not want to chat, OK? Do you know what ‘stress’ means?”

We came home to hammering, and a flurry of activity. Our friend Tony was here hanging doors, helping Paul paint, moving big furniture that I can’t budge. But despite all this ruckus, I feel a deep sense of peace. Nathan’s heart is just fine.

Yesterday, another bright light…
We used to have a collie. But I couldn’t handle him, so we sold him to a wonderful retired couple. We still keep in touch. It’s kind of like I’m the birth mom and they are the adoptive parents. Every time I see Winslow, he’s 10 pounds bigger. Anyway, Elaine, Winslow’s new mom brought us a huge box of clothes for Miika that someone has given her—most with the tags still on. BEAUTIFUL, but practical clothes! I didn’t really look at the items until Elaine and Winslow left. But it made me cry, because it was just a random gift from God. I didn’t ask for it. He just brought it. It’s like the rare occasions that I’m shopping alone and I see something that my kids don’t need, but I know they would like to have, and I splurge and pay full price for it.

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:11

I almost forgot to mention that on my way to UIC for Nathan’s echo, I felt this strange urge to pay close attention to my route in case I needed to tell Paul how to get to one of our appointments some day. I know the way but probably would stumble on the street names if I had to give directions. Only after I was on my way back home, did it dawn on me that God knew I’d have a little accident today. He also knows that we only have 3 more of Paul’s paychecks coming. And God knows what’s next for us. All I know is that I’m supposed to pack, polish and trust.

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