Even in Iowa?

Luke 12:22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do
not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will
wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the
ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds
them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Luke 12:25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

When we first moved to Iowa, our parents, friends, family, were worried. Who would take care of us when we were in need? Who would be there for emergencies or help or advice or support?

We too, were worried.

During the long drive from Washington to Iowa, Phil's mom talked through her fears with her big brother- Uncle Jim. After she was through, Jim smiled at her, and said "Sis, believe it or not, God is in Iowa, too."

As humans- and especially Americans - we like to be in control. We like to know that whatever happens, we will be taken care of - and we like to leave no chance or situation where that might not be the case. We have health insurance, life insurance, car insurance. We have the government. We have the US. We often, however, leave God out of the picture.

But the beautiful thing is, He can take care of you. HE WILL take care of you. And better than the insurance companies. Better than the government.

Let me give an example. And let me just say- this is only an example, because I could name many more times we have been taken care of -better than the lilies of the field.

Last week, we gave Ryan his 15 month shots. The doctor explained that he would most likely run a temperature within about a week. The temperature set in last night. We gave him some tylenol, an early bedtime, and he slept well. This morning, he woke up, and was lethargic. Nothing new for a baby with a temperature. But he was very hot. So we spent the day in a rocking chair with him, taking turns with a cool cloth and a fan. A few times his temperature was high enough where we put him into a cool bath to take it back down

At 1:00pm, after about three hours of sitting with Ryan, I relinquished him to Phil. I went into the kitchen to start some dishes. I made a phone call to Amanda, who recently had her baby. I had not had a chance to call her until this time. Two minutes into the call, I heard Phil yell from the other room. I ran in to see what was wrong, but he was gone. Upstairs, Philip had Ryan in the bath: he was having a siezure.

I don't know how it happened, but somehow I hung up with Amanda, and got on the phone with 911. All I could do was pray as the first responders and the ambulance were on the way. When the siezure finally stopped, Ryan went limp, exhausted. His parents, however, were very shaken- no, closer to panicked. What was wrong with our baby? Were we doing the right things? How could we know if he was OK?

The next thing we knew, Ryan started to cry. The 911 dispatch informed us that this was a good sign- a normal thing for a baby to do after such an event. She let us go to comfort our baby and wait for the EMT's. The long wait was broken with the ring of the phone. A sweet voice asked "Is this Tracy?" It was a woman from our church- she is what they call a "first responder" in a neighboring city, and had heard our name over the emergency system. She called to see what was going on and to ask if I wanted her to come out. She tried to put my fears to rest, asking questions and telling me we had done the right things. I started to breathe for the first time since it all began. We heard sirens as she was talking to us. No matter how strong I felt in the moment, the caring voice of a friend in a time of crisis brought tears to my eyes.

We took turns holding Ryan tight until the ambulance came. They checked him out, but wanted us to take him into the emergency room or the doctor to make sure there was nothing else going on. Though we had brought his temperature down in the bath, it was starting to rise again, and his heartbeat was too fast for their liking.

The ambulance crew stuck around until we knew our doctor could see Ryan. Instead of patching us through to scheduling, our doctor had come on the phone herself to tell me that she would be happy to check out Ryan, but from our details, she was sure he was fine. Though still shaken, it was nice hearing from someone experienced that our baby was OK. The ambulance followed us the whole way to make sure he was safe for the ride.

The information we got from his doctor helped to alay our fears further. She explained how these convulsions this can happen to small kids once in awhile during high fevers, and we don't need to worry about lasting effects. Now that he has had one, he is more likely to have them, so we need to keep a close eye on him. Other than that, he will be fine. We felt extremely tired, but blessed. A situation like this always brings things into focus.

Just last night, we had been lamenting over all of the projects on our to-do list. We had both looked at this daunting list- with items ranging from "absolute must- do" to "should be done before winter". The biggest, most frightening thing on the list was a leak that had started on one of our basement pipes. Phil had tried to fix it once, but had not been able to stop it. Since it was right where the new plumbing had tied into the old plumbing, he was worried we were going to have to taclkle the upstairs plumbing- something we were not yet ready to do- financially or mentally. As this water has been dripping into buckets, we have been dreading addressing the issue. And there are other things on the list- you know, build a kitchen, etc.

But when something like this happens to your precious baby, you are able to bring yourself back to reality. Oh how we take something like our health so for granted. We are never as thankful for what we already have until it is threatened.

Tired and subdued, we left the doctor's office, picked up some motrin and tylenol for Ryan, and headed home. We finally smiled about the fact that we were faced with such a heavy load. While still overwhelmed, at least we knew we were all safe.

As we drove into the driveway, we noticed a blue paper pinched in our screen door. Phil jumped out to see what it was.

It said "Phil, Your water is shut off. Be right back with plumbing parts. -Mike"

We had not mentioned this leak to anyone. Not a soul. Mike is the neighbor farmer we talked about two posts ago- the one who mowed down our hay.

When he showed back up, we heard the rest of the story. Mike had heard from three different people that the Grossmann baby had a siezure. He called three area hospitals, to see if he could find us. When he couldn't track us down, he came to our house. He opened the door to yell at us, and heard dripping in the basement. He came in to investigate- noted the leak, and shut off our water. Then, he went to get a neighbor who knew how to do plumbing.

Within ten minutes of us being home, our plumbing was fixed.

I called Amanda back to let her know what had happened, and that we were all OK. She, too, had been filled in through other people in the community. They, too, had called three hospitals to see if they could find us to come and sit with us.

We believe that most of the surrounding towns know about that cute Washington baby by now. Word gets around quick despite the long distances between the homes.

Ryan, upon coming home, is acting normal again. He started making little squeals, and even smiled at the men while they were repairing the plumbing. He toddled around, still weak but much more himself.

We can have insurance, but no insurance company could have provided the sweet phone call, the caring community, or the plumbers. No, that is not something we could have asked for, nor would we have even known how.

It was as if God was saying "Yes, I am still here. And I will take care of you. Even in Iowa."