Craziness & Miracles

It's been a slamming last few days. I am actually about to run out to watch the UFC fights, but let me briefly explain. On Tuesday I went back to work after having a fun day off on Monday. On Tuesday evening my wife went out with a friend, so I just stayed home and chilled with the girls. At around 10 pm my wife returned home. When my 6 year old heard the car pull in, she got excited and went running to hide so as to surprise mom. All of a sudden I heard a loud, crashing thump, and I knew she had fallen. Immediately I heard that blood-curdling scream that says, "This one is for real and I'm not going to just brush it off." I jumped out and ran into the hallway as did my wife who was coming up the stairs, my 10 year old, and my mother-in-law. When these things happen I usually have to take over because the rest operate in quite a panic. I picked up my daughter and saw a pool of blood. I quickly got her into the bathroom and we began trying to calm her down and clean her now bloody face and clothes. When she was finally able to tell us what happened, she explained that she had tripped over her pajama pants and fell smack on her face on our wooden floor. Her lip and gums were bleeding and very swollen, and her new adult tooth in the front was loose. We were able to get the bleeding to subside for the most part, applied some ice to her lip, and she was able to fall asleep. After she was asleep I was able to get a little bit of a better look at her injury, and her tooth was still loose. I was hoping it was just that initial looseness, but it was not. So I called our dentist in the middle of the night and left a message that she needed to be seen right away on Wednesday morning. They were fantastic. They were on the phone to me before 9 am, and asked me to bring her right in, which I did. After an x-ray confirmed that the tooth had not been fractured, they determined that she needed a splint which would need to be done by a dental surgeon. They said I would have to schedule an appointment. When I explained that we would be leaving town on Monday, they said they would see what they could do. After a few minutes they came back and said that they had a surgeon in the office, and that he would try to get her in. He did so, and we were done in less than an hour. (Miracle #1) My daughter sat so still and did so good! I was very proud of her! We then went out for a steak lunch. No! Just kidding! We went out for McDonald's, and she was able to eat some nuggets.

When we returned home, I decided to grab the mail on the way in. I noticed that we had a letter from Homeland Security. I was so exited to see this, because my wife has been waiting for a notice to come and take her oath for citizenship for over 2 1/2 years! I thought surely this was the letter! When I opened it, it stated that she needed to report next week (while she will be out of the country on a missions trip, of course) to have her biometrics (fingerprints) done. She had already done her biometrics two years ago. Why were they asking her for them again? It also stated that if she did not report, her case would be considered abandoned, and she would have to begin her citizenship process all over again. Yikes! We couldn't believe it! We got on the phone right away, and after 3 frustrating phone calls pushing buttons in response to an automated voice system, she finally got through to a real person. The person explained that there was not much she could do except mail a letter explaining her situation and asking them to reschedule her. She asked if this was a guarantee that her case would not be thrown out, but he could not affirm. She hung up and was about ready to cry. I told her to call back and try to talk to someone else. She gave me the phone to call. After a few prompts, I got someone on the line and gave her the phone. She explained that she had received this letter - to which the officer said, "Oh, this is really good news! That means they're ready to move your case forward." She explained that she had already had her biometrics done - to which the officer said, "Well, that's because they're only good for 12 months." She then explained that she was going to be away on the day of her appointment - to which the officer said, "Well, you can go on any Wednesday when they take walk-in's." This was Wednesday at 2pm, mind you - the only Wednesday we would be here before her scheduled appointment. When we told her we were about 45-minutes away, she said she would suggest that we go for it, and just hope that the line was not out the door and that they could squeeze her in. We immediately thanked her, rounded up the kids, jumped in the car, and began the race to the location. When we arrived, my wife jumped out and ran to the office while I looked for a parking space. When I finally found one, I put a quarter in the meter and waited. It was not 10 minutes before my wife called me asking where I was parked because she was done. When she got in the car, she said that there was not one person in the usually jam-packed office. (Miracle #2) It was a stressful day, and, of course, as always, it was on a Wednesday which is the biggest day of the week (a couple of years ago, I was walking out on stage to start youth group when my older daughter was brought to me with an obviously broken arm, and I had to give the service to my team and take her to the hospital). It was amazing to see God's providence in the midst of these two crisis on that day.

Thank You, Lord, that my daughter was not more seriously injured, and that you got us to that office at the exact moment on the exact day that the surgeon was able to get her into his busy schedule. And thank You that I opened the mail (which my wife was intentionally not doing (unbeknown to me) because she was fearing that they would call her when she was going to be gone), and that we had that 2-hour window of opportunity to get her immigration issue dealt with. You are so amazingly faithful! Amen!