Oil pressure, road work, and emergency room...

I want to share with everyone the many experiences of God's mercy and grace on the trip to Iowa this past weekend. First off, this is the first time that we have had money and time to get up to Iowa and it was on a big planned family get together so we got to see everybody, or almost everybody. So that in and of itself was a big praise. But then, about 30 minutes past Kansas City, the truck lost all oil pressure :( The gauge went back to normal after shutting the truck off. Weird! Praise the Lord, that we made it all the way to Iowa and then found out that it was slightly overfull on oil and just needed emptied out a little bit, and needed the filter replaced (thanks to brother-in-law Joel figuring out that we needed a filter and getting it for us). It drove perfectly all the way back home! Also on the way up there, we hit some road construction and sat and waited for twenty minutes for the flag man to let us through...argh. But God worked all the timing out for us. 

Then for the trip back.....

First off, we overslept our alarm by an hour so we were late getting on the road. Then we had gotten about forty minutes away when we got a phone call that we had left our double stroller at the conference center.....oops :_(  The thought crossed our minds of leaving it and having it shipped or just getting a different one. But, thirty dollars in gas is a lot cheaper than shipping something that heavy or a new stroller. So we turned around. That meant traveling the same span of road three times instead of once. Very frustrating. But we decided to thank the Lord and trust that He was working his perfect timing for us to get home. 

And then when we were still about four hours from home, I was falling asleep while Joshua drove and Elaina erupted into terrible crying (the closest to screaming I've ever heard from her). I turned around and started searching all over her trying to figure out what was wrong. I finally discovered a baby bumblebee sitting dazed on her clothes. I was instantly sick to my stomach. Joshua pulled over into a driveway so we could find out if she had actually been stung or if it had maybe just fallen in the window and hit her in the face or something. After undressing her and going over her carefully we finally noticed that one of her fingers was swelling up. I was panicking! (I have never actually been stung but I reacted terribly to bug bites as a girl and Joshua gets bad baseball size welts from bee stings.) We had no idea how far from the next town we were and I had no benadryl to give her. We did have some ice in the cooler so I got that on her right away. I also gave her a bottle of milk, even though it wasn't time for it yet. But it helped calm her down so I could actually watch her hand. Joshua was pretty scared about something happening when he didn't know where anything was at, so he hit the gas. I must say that I was glad there weren't any cops on patrol! Praise the Lord, that the next town we hit was big enough for a Walmart and a hospital! By the time, we got to Walmart to get benadryl it had already been twenty minutes since she'd been stung and her whole hand and all of her fingers were swollen and red. Joshua made a pharmacist show him where the children's benadryl was and said that everyone looked at him like he was a crazy man running through Walmart. From the time we parked to the time she was getting medicine in her was about 3 minutes! We were both really worried about her so we drove to the hospital so we'd be there in case she started having problems. We got there, packed the kids in the stroller (which we wouldn't have had if we'd decided to leave it), and went in the emergency room waiting room. Joshua told them that our baby had been stung and we were just sitting there to monitor her so that if something went wrong help was readily available. After a couple minutes one of the nurses came out to look at her anyway. She sat with us and watched her hand and got more ice to put on it. We sat there for about thirty minutes and praise God her hand swelling started going down. Thankfully, the benadryl took care of the allergic reaction and we didn't have to admit her. Today, her hand looks perfectly normal and she is her happy, chubby self. Praise the Lord for His protection of her.

We hit road work once again on the rest of the trip, but we were able to find a side road that cut out that section of the highway and get around it. It probably didn't save us much, but moving constantly when your truck doesn't have air conditioning is way better than sitting still. And it felt like we were getting there faster. :P

Then Joshua's parents invited us to stop at their house for dinner before going home. It was so nice to not have to worry about finding something to fix for dinner and making that much more mess. Especially after all the extra ordeals on top of the seven hour drive. My brain was not functioning for any more problem solving..LOL.

Even with all the trials of the trip, we had a great visit with family while we were there. We got to see my great Grandma T and visit with her for a couple of hours. The Miller family reunion Sunday was fun too! This was a first time meeting a lot of the family for Joshua and the kids. And Joshua's boss let him change his work schedule so that we could stay an extra night and drive back on Monday instead of driving home at midnight. My sister's family and us were all staying at the conference center Sunday night. So after all the kids fell asleep, we all got to have a late night get together, playing ping pong, snacking, and talking. It was really nice.

In summary, it was a very long, interesting, stressful, fun, busy weekend for the Joshua Burks family. We are happy to be home and having a normal week....or at least there's nothing major planned yet! LOL

Praising God for His bountiful love and goodness ~Tyana

Fun and Busy

This month has turned into a crazy month, but very fun! We started out the month with Joshua's 25th birthday! I had bought him a half-price one night stay at a bed and breakfast in Branson that we plan on using later in the year as our birthdays and anniversary celebrations combined. We haven't left the babies for an all night out yet..so that will be interesting :P 

Joshua's Mom and Dad got him a Bass Pro gift card for his birthday, so we went out to breakfast and shopping on his birthday. Bass Pro was a favorite of the kids already, so it was a fun way to get out for his birthday shopping. He started out wanting lawn chairs, so he got two big lawn chairs and then he found miniature chairs for the kids that he couldn't pass up..LOL :) Then he asked me how crazy I was willing to be for his birthday celebration. A couple hours later, and much poorer than when we entered the store, there was  everything we needed to go on a family camping trip! So, this last weekend we went on our first of many  family camping trips! I don't have all the pics organized and edited yet so I'll post the details and pics of that later..LOL. 

This next weekend we are taking a road trip to Iowa for the Miller family reunion. We are happy that this opportunity has come up and, so far, everything is working out for us to go. We have been trying to get up to Iowa since we got married. Most of the family has never met Joshua, let alone the children. So it will be nice to finally get up there.

July is going to be very busy too as we are moving at the end of the month. We're not exactly sure where to yet, but we are resting in God working out His perfect timing and will. So, to end my post here are some pictures from the last week or two :)

 Reading books together and sitting on the diaper order that had arrived :D

My sweet baby Elaina :)

 Cute kiddies <3

Pretty little girl getting so big 

That's all for now ~Tyana

Precious Moments

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow,

For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."

~Author Unknown

This poem has always hung either on my bedroom wall or in my bathroom since I was a small child.  One of my great aunts made it for me when I was born.  My sister even made up a lullaby melody to sing it to when I was little.  With every day that passes I become more aware of how true it really is. Our lives are as vapors (James 4:14), and the older I get the more I realize that.  My children are the most beautiful things in my life, and yet I find myself getting weighed down by the cares of this world.  God has been showing me over the last few weeks that sometimes I do just need to slow down and enjoy the precious moments.  

This afternoon, I was going along at 70 miles an hour trying to get everything ready for church tonight.  The kids were starting to get overwhelmed with me running around so I decided to sit down for a few minutes on the couch.  It was like the bees that find a good tasting flower....and I was the flower!  I was instantly swarmed with "mommy, I want you to do this", growls (Neddie's love talk :), and giggles of delight.  Sure my kitchen is messy and my hair is still all wrapped in a towel from washing it, but I got to spend some sweet time with my babies.

Thank you Lord for giving me precious moments ~Tyana

This is the second day..

in a  row that I have at least opened up blogger! LOL  I finally updated the header pictures and changed the background. It looks much more summery now :D
Today has been a hectic day so far, but with a lot of sweet moments mixed in. To start off with, the kids all got up at 6:30 before Joshua headed out the door for work.  That's not too early for them to get up but my brain was not prepared to handle all three children's needs that early in the morning today.  I was all geared to getting my devotions and some good work in before I had to worry about breakfast, diapers, bottles, potty, and organizing play time.  I had to totally switch wave lengths and my brain did not want to do that this morning.  I finally sat the kids down for a movie and was able to get my devotions in.  I had to choose to be thankful for the day not going right. I wrote down as many things as I could think of at that moment to be grateful for about my children.  Boy, did that help or what! I am so thankful for my children.  And even though I only did a whopping 14 files for work today, I have had some very special moments with my children.
So, today's lesson for me has been in gratefulness, even when things don't go according to my plan.  Once again, learning to apply the verse, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." ~1 Thessalonians 5:18
Blessings, Tyana

Ummmm.... :D

So, its been 4 months since I posted anything on my blog. I have come to the realization of the fact that I am NOT a blogger! LOL

I don't have time right now to write all about our life and the goings on but here are some pictures!

Of course, the biggest change over the last four months has been the addition of our beautiful Elaina Jael

She is three months old today! And just rolled over for the first time this afternoon.

Edward Uriah turned 18 months old this past weekend

And Eilis is 2 and 3/4 years the end of this month.

I can't believe how fast my children are growing up. I thank God for every day that He has given us with them and pray for many more to come. That's all for now. I have to figure something out for dinner :P

Have a blessed week ~Tyana