Speaking & Sun Burns

Where to begin, where to begin…

There’s been so many awesome (and also crazy) things going on lately that I wanted to take a minute to just catch up with ya a bit!

First of all…I am so glad you are here!

You have no idea how much it blesses me to be friends with you!  You continue to inspire, bless, challenge, and encourage me…so thanks!

This past weekend I spoke at a Mother’s Day Brunch at a church here in the Ft. Lauderdale area, Sawgrass Community Church.  It was a beautiful morning filled with love, laughter, and lots of food…that’s the beauty of the “brunch”, right?

Unfortunately I didn’t really get to enjoy the bounty of yummies displayed because my stomach gets all full of butterflies before I speak (not nerves, just excitement).  Four or five of my dear friends came with me to listen, help me with my mic, and make sure I didn’t have lipstick all over my teeth…ha! That’s what good friends will do, right?

We did, however, have a fantastic time studying the truth, the depth, and the richness of 1 John 3:18.  We talked about how to be women of action and how we could use that verse to help us to “Spring Into Action“.  It was an incredible morning and I loved every minute with those beautiful ladies.

During the day my oldest went to a beach party full of 16 year olds running around and having a great time.  There are quite a few benefits to living in South Florida and our beaches are by far one of them.  He was there for almost six hours.  I was speaking and enjoying my time with the ladies at Sawgrass Community Church so I didn’t help him prepare a bag for the day but ran through a list of items over and over and over with him before I walked out the door.

Y’all know where this is going, right?

Don’t ya know that apparently my son didn’t pack a hat or sunblock over 30…which, for my very light Irish boy is not a good thing.  Needless to say, when he came home he already looked like a Rock Lobster…no kidding, he was glowing!

He showered then went to youth group and so we thought, ok, he’s going be hurting for a few days but no big deal…what we weren’t prepared for was…

That he wouldn’t be able to sleep and that he would wake up the next morning covered in blisters!

Not just the little bitty ones either!

Nope, they pretty much look like bubble wrap size blisters.  All over his face and shoulders!

Needless to say he didn’t sleep hardly at all (which means neither did mom and dad), he was in a horrible amount of pain, and spent the morning with the dry heaves.

Thankfully we had medicine for the nausea and started immediately pushing the fluids in him.  He was dehydrated, swollen, sick to his stomach and if it is possible I think the blisters were getting bigger.

I ended up staying home from church with him and throughout the course of the day yesterday the blisters got worse and we finally just said that we need to take him to the Emergency Room.

While in the ER we had several nurses and doctors who just “happened” to stop by our room.  They heard about this kid with the horrible sun burn and wanted to come see for themselves…it’s ok, you can laugh, we did.

After only an hour and a half (our shortest ER visit ever, yay!!!) we walked out with a better understanding of what we were dealing with and how to help…He has 2nd degree burns on his face and shoulders, he’s on pain meds and a special cream to help with the blisters.  

Apparently we can’t just ever have a “simple” sickness or whatever in our house…so we continue to endure these crazy adventures…lol!

So, here we are, two days ago I was enjoying the sweet fellowship of a Mother’s Day Brunch, and today I’m playing nurse/doctor to a 16 yr old who just now was able to fall asleep.

** Reapply, Reapply, Reapply!!!  Sunscreen needs to be put on again and again, especially if you are going to be in the sun for any period of time.  Wear hats to protect your face (if he had worn a hat his face wouldn’t be as bad right now) and put a cover up or shirt on after awhile to protect your shoulders/chest!  

This mama will now get back to taking care of the patient!

Have a great day!