Redemptive day at the Bay...

Pam and I took the boys to the Bay when Brent was out of town for a bike race one weekend.  (I think it was Labor Day weekend.)  It was a nice, redemptive visit after the previous one, which included a trip to the emergency room with Gage via ambulance.  We think (not even sure to this day) that the hummus he ate may have caused the allergic reaction he experienced.  It was really scary, but I had a peace about it that I can't explain apart from God.  Get this:  A good friend's husband (a firefighter) was supposed to be at work that day, but he had called in sick to take a personal day with his family.  As he sat at the Bay and noticed my concern for Gage, he asked if I needed help.  I thought he might have been choking, so Chuck gave Gage the heimlich maneuver, but that didn't resolve his issues and visible struggle for air.  Gage seemed suddenly exhausted, nearly passing out on my shoulder and then on Chuck's.  I was in disbelief when Chuck told me to call 911, but I'm so glad that he did and so thankful that he was there that day.  He carried Gage outside, where Gage proceeded to throw up on the sidewalk.  And, again, I thought that maybe he'd be OK after that.  When he was still so wheezy, though, everyone thought it best to put him on the ambulance.  I was holding my clothes and wearing world's oldest and most faded swimming suit when the emergency worker (Mr. Joe) started asking me questions about Gage.  My dear friends offered to take Gavin home, and everything happened so quickly that I didn't even have extra clothes for Gage when we took off toward the hospital.  In the ambulance Mr. Joe gave Gage albuterol and hooked him up to an IV to give him Benadryl.  Even at the hospital they decided not to give him Epi--probably because his issues were resolving by then--and the little guy was so tired that he slept for nearly two hours.  He was so friendly and cooperative with everyone, and Mr. Joe declared that he was by far the best two-year-old patient he had ever met or worked with, which made Mommy very proud.  All the nurses pointed at him and smiled, saying how adorable he was when he came in on the stretcher in his swimming trunks and nothing else.  Maybe it was the sesame seeds or the chick peas in the hummus, but whatever it was God protected him and put all of the right people in our path that day.  We'll go back to Gage's allergist in January for more follow-up.  God is good...all the time.