t.g.i.N.f. (thank goodness it's NOT friday)

i've always loved fridays.  the wrapping up of a long week at school or work, the anticipation of a weekend with family and friends -- fridays are fun days.

but i'm praying to never again have a friday like this last one.

it started like any fun friday should.  the kids and i drove to bethany's house to play, swim, and eat lunch.  they were running so hard and having such a fantastic time that i told bethany, "today is going to be a super nap day for them".  around 1:15, i decided that if i was going to cash in on long-nap-time, i should probably head for home.  i gathered our gear, strapped everybody into the car, and we took off toward home.  as we were leaving bethany's house, izzy yelled, "look mommy -- i did it!!"  i turned around to see that she had unbuckled her car seat all by herself, so i immediately stopped and very sternly told her that she was never, ever, ever allowed to unbuckle her seat when we were driving.  i explained that we could have a wreck and that if she wasn't buckled snugly in her seat, she could get really hurt.

twenty-five minutes later, my car looked like this:

the cause: 
a guy pulled out in front of me on hwy. 280 which caused me to t-bone his truck right on his driver's side door.  he drove his car away from the accident scene.  i obviously didn't.
the medical report: 
other driver - totally fine.  huge blessing!
abby - screamed for the first five minutes but has NO physical injuries.  she has been glued to my hip ever since the accident and has done everything she can think of to be a little servant (including laying my jammies out on my bed - that she made up - so they would be ready for me when i hit the hay last night).
jack - screamed for the first five minutes but only has a couple of tiny scratches around his neck where his car seat straps burned his neck.  he's been acting out a little since friday but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that we've been locked up in the house talking to insurance agents all weekend.
izzy - screamed for what seemed like four hours but has NO physical injuries.  it kind of makes me sick to think what could have happened if she hadn't told me she had unbuckled her seat belt.  humongous blessing!!!!!!!!  i can't count high enough to tell you how many times i've thanked the lord for protecting all of our little people.
me - i have a concussion and possibly a very small nasal fracture from where the "air mattress" (as the kids call it) deployed when we wrecked.  but today has been soooooo much better than the weekend and i should be 100% in the next few days.  again, i'm thankful, thankful, thankful.

by the time we got home that evening, we were content to call it a day, but there was more difficult news on the horizon.  we got an email from our case worker that judah had been sent to the hospital.  he was back at the orphanage by the time she wrote us, but she had no information other than the fact that he had been in the hospital "briefly" that week.

you know that old saying about the straw that broke the camel's back?  yeah...

josh immediately called a family meeting in the living room to pray.  we thanked god for the fact that we were all sitting together, relatively unharmed, in our own home, and we prayed for tiny judah.  when we were done, sweet innocent abby leaned over to me and whispered, "i really hope judah doesn't die."

breaking, breaking...

it was too much.  the emotional trauma of such an accident, the physical pain, the thankfulness for our lives, and the fear for judah's.  i whispered back, "me too, baby.  me too."  and then i turned away and let the tears flow.  i would have been worried regardless, but our agency had recently told us about a family whose baby girl died at the orphanage from malnutrition before they could get her home.

but as josh reminded me, judah was back at the orphanage so that had to be a good sign, right??

fast forward to today.  in terms of the accident, this has been a very eventful, very good day.  the insurance company has already cut us a check to get another car, and we got the information we needed to have all four of the car seats that were in the van replaced under our policy.  (allstate has been fantastic!)

but then i got the update email i had been waiting for from our adoption case worker.  she told us that judah had been admitted into the hospital again today for severe vomiting and diarrhea and that they didn't know when he would be released.  "they" (whoever that is) think that it's his formula that's making him sick so once he's stable again, they're going to start him on a different kind to see if that will help him.  i'm trying to take my cues from our case worker, but while she was very calm and reassuring, i'm a lot more concerned.  how do we know that this is as simple as the wrong formula?  how adequate is his medical care?  how long can a five-pound baby live with severe vomiting and diarrhea? 

i don't want to be overly dramatic, but there's a little guy in ethiopia who could be fighting for his life tonight.  please, please pray for judah's health.  pray that his doctors and nurses will have adequate knowledge and resources to help heal him and that his caretakers will be able to care for him once he's back at the orphanage. 

i made our blog private several weeks ago but feel free to copy this post and send it to others to have them praying as well.  (and i'm always happy to add readers if they have someone i know and trust to vouch for their good intentions and sanity.  learned that one the hard way.)  we would love to have a tremendous gathering of prayers going up on baby judah's behalf.

more tomorrow...