The last two weeks have been pretty crazy. We made it through a week of passing around a stomach bug.

Then, we noticed a wet spot on the carpet. Noah spilled his Sprite; no big deal. I’ll just blot it up with a towel.

Then the spot grew. And it never dried.

Then it started to stink.

Then Karl and Benjamin started having trouble breathing.

Water in your house anywhere outside a basin is not your friend.

Karl’s parents graciously opened their home to us for the weekend. No one had any asthma troubles for the entire weekend at M & D’s house. We went out to eat, went shopping, relaxed, watched Horatio Hornblower, and just enjoyed being together.

Since the repairs to the house are going to be pretty invasive, we thought the perfect solution would be to move into my grandmother’s house since she is no longer using it. So, Monday we did laundry and packed up all that we thought we’d need for a week away from our house.

After about an hour in Nanny’s house Benjamin and Karl started having trouble breathing again. They were definitely allergic to something. So, I administered the inhaler and the Benadryl, but neither helped. The bottom line was that we needed to get out of the house. Karl wanted to try and tough it out until morning, but his breathing only became more labored. Benjamin didn’t improve, either.

Since becoming a mother, I think the only times I’ve been really worried were those times that my boys have struggled to breathe. I do not like feeling helpless. It sounds terrible to say that all I could do was pray, but that’s all I could do…And get them out of that house.

After about 20 minutes of cool, fresh air, they were both feeling better.

So, I loaded as much as I could back into the van, and we went back home.

We did more to dry out the carpet with our blower, turned on all the fans, and switched the A/C to run continuously so that the air would be filtered, and closed our bedroom door.

The guys made it through the night without any serious problems.

I spent Tuesday moving all of our stuff from Nanny’s house back to our house. Benjamin was happy to spend most of the day outside until it was time for naps. He came inside to rest, but I didn’t realize the A/C had been switched back to auto, so the air wasn’t being filtered non-stop. By the end of rest time, Benjamin was having trouble breathing again. And again, his rescue inhaler and Benadryl did not help. Even sitting outside didn’t help.

So, Karl, who by this time was also having trouble breathing again, took Ben to the emergency room. The doctors took care of him quickly and discharged him.

I don’t know what you call our floor plan, but the bedrooms are on one end of the house and the living room and kitchen and dining are on the other end. We all slept on the end of the house without the bedrooms, trying to keep Ben and Karl as far away from the mildew-y carpet as possible.

The rest of the night was uneventful.

Well, except for the migraine that woke Karl around 4:30. He took some medicine and put an icepack on his head and felt better by the time he had to get up for work at 6.

So, today Benjamin got to go to work with his daddy. We’ve proven that he cannot stay in our house. I packed up all of his assignments for the day, along with a couple of books to read, and he enjoyed a fun day at the office with Dad. Today is fresh fruit day, so Karl’s administrative assistant (what happened to the word ‘secretary’?) fetched some of Ben’s favorite fruit for him. She even played a ball game with him! He had a great day!! But he said he still missed his mommy–how sweet!

Our home owner’s insurance covers an extended hotel stay for events like this, so tonight they are enjoying a quiet, manly evening together at a local hotel. I heard something about take-out and Indiana Jones.

Our adjuster is moving our claim along because of the breathing problems, so a contractor and flooring specialist came by today to take a better look at our problem. Thank you, Jesus!

I just want to thank you all for your thoughtful comments and encouragement. It helped me a great deal to know that so many of you, in addition to our extended family, were praying for us. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that our gracious Father helped us at every turn.

Lord willing, we have a plan for the next week of living.