It all began beautifully. I climbed into Hope's twin bed with her and we snuggled together for about two hours.
Then, everything peaceful ended.
Daniel woke up calling for daddy. When daddy didn't come for him, Daniel made his way through the house screaming for daddy. When I could finally get to the point when Daniel would actually let me hold him, he continued to cry--but without the screaming.
Then, Cherish woke up from a nightmare. When I went to comfort her, Daniel began walking around the house again screaming for daddy. This time, he could not be comforted. No matter what I tried, he would not stop screaming.
I helped Cherish bed down on the couch, and then went to get Daniel--who was at that point on the floor next to daddy's side of the bed. He would not be comforted.
God put a thought in my mind, and I acted on it.
I knelt down by Daniel's feet and stretched my body over his body, my arms around his head, and my face on his face. He instantly stopped screaming. Then, he gradually stopped crying. We began to breathe simultaneously. I held still. His body began to relax.
After a while, I carefully picked him up and carried him to the couch. I again reclined on him. He liked the weight. After he relaxed a bit more, I took a comforter and wrapped him up snuggly in it. The child who hates any and all blankets on him and who only likes to sleep flat on his back, let me wrap him up in a comforter and be positioned in a fetal position! I was shocked.
I gently kissed him and kept my body over his. He eventually fell asleep. I was thanking Jesus!!!! There is something so stressful about hearing a child screaming, not being able to comfort him/her, and also knowing that at any second another child could awaken from the noise and join in with the screaming/crying.
I bedded down next to Daniel and Cherish and prayed for some addition time to sleep--which came.
It reminded me of the 24-hour house we will be living in when Derek comes home. It was exhausting.
The strange thing is that Daniel is used to not seeing daddy for about three days in a row (when daddy works multiple double shifts in a row). It makes me wonder how Daniel's nights will look when daddy does not come home for weeks. We all would appreciate continued prayers.
On the China-front, Derek and Andrew are still doing well. They enjoyed their one day of walking around Beijing, and they are now sleeping.
Derek comforting Daniel before falling asleep exhausted:
They will leave their hotel at 7:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. EST) to catch the train to Matthew's province. Now is when it becomes very real. Derek has lots of emotions. I will share a bit more about that on my next post...later tonight.
God bless you all for caring for our family!
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing. I pray this separation makes him love Derek more but also helps him to learn how to cope with separation.
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