Ca-raziest arrival in Salt Lake EVER! There was one other time that
almost compares when I was due to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, but
found out while on the road that I could not stay there after-all and
had to find a hotel once I got into town, but this experience was BY FAR
the most frazzling!
Our nutty day started this morning. It just seemed that everything I was trying to do was not working out. I had my nephew, Jayce, who is SUCH a great little guy and normally takes a GREAT nap, but today, he hardly slept (and of course, I was trying to pack)! Then, to keep him away from the stairs we use a baby-gate, but Ella kept on pulling it down (which she NEVER does), so I had to keep running and putting it back!!! It was just one thing after another that made me feel like we were never going to get on the road on time when Calvin got home from work! Once Calvin did get home, he said his day was exactly the same. NOTHING was going right. BUT, somehow (by the power of Jesus) we were both ready at exactly the same time, right on time.
Our trip went really well. Weather was great, kids were great, roads were great. We had it set up that we would stay in one of the parent rooms at the Shriner's hospital tonight and tomorrow night. I even called this afternoon to make sure that they were still planning on us. After I received the green light from the voice on the other end of the line, we thought we had everything all set and ready to go...but it was not so, as we found out upon arrival.
When we arrived at Shriner's, we were told that we were to go into Parent room #3. So, with arms full with four bags each and a sleeping Ella in tow and Ari holding my hand, we made our way up the elevator, around the winding halls and finally arrived at Parent room #3. I put the key in the lock and noticed an "occupied" sign on the door, so I knocked...sure enough! A woman with a casted baby opened the door! At this point, Ella woke up and started fussing, we dropped all of our bags in the parent room and I tried to console Ella while Ari waited patiently next to me as Calvin traveled back downstairs to let the night guard know about the mix-up.
Finally, after what seemed like 10 minutes of Ella fussing and Ari whining, Calvin and the night-guard arrived. We loaded all of our bags and kids back up, the guard apologized for the mix-up and led us to our new room. We walked into our room, dropped our stuff for the second time and sighed a huge sigh of relief...we had finally made it...or had we? After Calvin and I made up the girls pull-out beds, Ari was in the bathroom and when I came in to check on her I noticed her wiping something from the toilet that was obviously old...YUCK!!! I looked around further and noticed that all the paper-towels were out, there were used bath-towels thrown about, a used wash cloth hanging in the shower, there were marks on the counter where the last guests had set their bottles of soap...the bathroom had not been cleaned!
This time, it was my turn to set out and tell the night-guard. When I told him what had happened, he was certain that the entire room had not been cleaned. At first, I offered to clean it (since we were getting to stay for free), but he refused and said that he had to get us out of the room for safety reasons and moved to a hotel. When I went back to deliver the news to my VERY tired family, they were all in the UN-CLEANED beds!!! YIKES again!! So, we packed up all of our day's clothes back in the bags, loaded them and our sleepy kids up AGAIN and drove down the foreign roads of SLC to a Shilo Inn.
After a 15 min wait in the car while Cal got us checked in, we loaded up AGAIN, arrived in our room and SIGH...we're finally ready to relax...WAIT...what's that smell? Why is Ella coughing so bad? It had a VERY strong cigarette smoke-smell! Immediately my nose started to burn and with Ella's surgery the next day and her sensitive lungs, we couldn't stay in that room. We phoned down to the front desk and the lady said she'd bring us up a key to a new room.
We loaded up AGAIN, traveled down two stories (in an elevator, thank goodness) and finally, FINALLY, arrived in our clean, fresh-air room!
It may sound silly, but it was such a great lesson for our kids AND us to have a good attitude no matter what. We kept talking about how if we didn't have Jesus, this whole thing would make us very angry and we wouldn't have good attitudes, but because we had Jesus living in us, He helped us to stay positive and kind to everyone around us. It was a stretch, but it became sort of an adventure in the end. I was so proud of my girls because the more we talked about how we needed to behave and that Jesus would help us, the better and better they got! We had said a prayer in our first room at the Shriner's hospital when we found out that we had to move to a hotel even after being settled in bed that we would all have good attitudes, and the Lord was really faithful to give us more grace than we thought was possible.
Now, I need to sleep before the alarm wakes me and Calvin up to get our kids up and out the door for Ella's surgery in the morning. Check in at the hospital is at 8:30 AM. We don't have internet at Shriners, so updates may not happen until Friday night because we are scheduled to stay at Shriner's tomorrow night. "But we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose", and so we give Him all the praise for the safe and wonderful place we ended up at tonight and for the surgery that Ella gets to have tomorrow. (Romans 8:28) Thanks again for all of the prayers. Really, our day went so well and we are happy to be here safe and sound. :)
Our nutty day started this morning. It just seemed that everything I was trying to do was not working out. I had my nephew, Jayce, who is SUCH a great little guy and normally takes a GREAT nap, but today, he hardly slept (and of course, I was trying to pack)! Then, to keep him away from the stairs we use a baby-gate, but Ella kept on pulling it down (which she NEVER does), so I had to keep running and putting it back!!! It was just one thing after another that made me feel like we were never going to get on the road on time when Calvin got home from work! Once Calvin did get home, he said his day was exactly the same. NOTHING was going right. BUT, somehow (by the power of Jesus) we were both ready at exactly the same time, right on time.
Our trip went really well. Weather was great, kids were great, roads were great. We had it set up that we would stay in one of the parent rooms at the Shriner's hospital tonight and tomorrow night. I even called this afternoon to make sure that they were still planning on us. After I received the green light from the voice on the other end of the line, we thought we had everything all set and ready to go...but it was not so, as we found out upon arrival.
When we arrived at Shriner's, we were told that we were to go into Parent room #3. So, with arms full with four bags each and a sleeping Ella in tow and Ari holding my hand, we made our way up the elevator, around the winding halls and finally arrived at Parent room #3. I put the key in the lock and noticed an "occupied" sign on the door, so I knocked...sure enough! A woman with a casted baby opened the door! At this point, Ella woke up and started fussing, we dropped all of our bags in the parent room and I tried to console Ella while Ari waited patiently next to me as Calvin traveled back downstairs to let the night guard know about the mix-up.
Finally, after what seemed like 10 minutes of Ella fussing and Ari whining, Calvin and the night-guard arrived. We loaded all of our bags and kids back up, the guard apologized for the mix-up and led us to our new room. We walked into our room, dropped our stuff for the second time and sighed a huge sigh of relief...we had finally made it...or had we? After Calvin and I made up the girls pull-out beds, Ari was in the bathroom and when I came in to check on her I noticed her wiping something from the toilet that was obviously old...YUCK!!! I looked around further and noticed that all the paper-towels were out, there were used bath-towels thrown about, a used wash cloth hanging in the shower, there were marks on the counter where the last guests had set their bottles of soap...the bathroom had not been cleaned!
This time, it was my turn to set out and tell the night-guard. When I told him what had happened, he was certain that the entire room had not been cleaned. At first, I offered to clean it (since we were getting to stay for free), but he refused and said that he had to get us out of the room for safety reasons and moved to a hotel. When I went back to deliver the news to my VERY tired family, they were all in the UN-CLEANED beds!!! YIKES again!! So, we packed up all of our day's clothes back in the bags, loaded them and our sleepy kids up AGAIN and drove down the foreign roads of SLC to a Shilo Inn.
After a 15 min wait in the car while Cal got us checked in, we loaded up AGAIN, arrived in our room and SIGH...we're finally ready to relax...WAIT...what's that smell? Why is Ella coughing so bad? It had a VERY strong cigarette smoke-smell! Immediately my nose started to burn and with Ella's surgery the next day and her sensitive lungs, we couldn't stay in that room. We phoned down to the front desk and the lady said she'd bring us up a key to a new room.
We loaded up AGAIN, traveled down two stories (in an elevator, thank goodness) and finally, FINALLY, arrived in our clean, fresh-air room!
It may sound silly, but it was such a great lesson for our kids AND us to have a good attitude no matter what. We kept talking about how if we didn't have Jesus, this whole thing would make us very angry and we wouldn't have good attitudes, but because we had Jesus living in us, He helped us to stay positive and kind to everyone around us. It was a stretch, but it became sort of an adventure in the end. I was so proud of my girls because the more we talked about how we needed to behave and that Jesus would help us, the better and better they got! We had said a prayer in our first room at the Shriner's hospital when we found out that we had to move to a hotel even after being settled in bed that we would all have good attitudes, and the Lord was really faithful to give us more grace than we thought was possible.
Now, I need to sleep before the alarm wakes me and Calvin up to get our kids up and out the door for Ella's surgery in the morning. Check in at the hospital is at 8:30 AM. We don't have internet at Shriners, so updates may not happen until Friday night because we are scheduled to stay at Shriner's tomorrow night. "But we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose", and so we give Him all the praise for the safe and wonderful place we ended up at tonight and for the surgery that Ella gets to have tomorrow. (Romans 8:28) Thanks again for all of the prayers. Really, our day went so well and we are happy to be here safe and sound. :)
Comments