Fireworks on the 4th!

Henry has an ear infection and isn’t sleeping, Neil has fluid on his ears, Parker has a cough that sounds consumptive, I found a nail in the front tire of the van and Parker discovered the windshield has a big crack. To top it all off the air conditioning literally had a meltdown. We had smelled smoke outside the nursery window Friday night and called the fire department; they insisted it was just someone burning leaves and left. Our heating and air guy came out yesterday afternoon to figure out why the house was 90 degrees and climbing and immediately located the source of the smoke smell the fireman said they had detected as soon as they pulled into the neighborhood; the inside of the compressor was charred black. Irene is getting a migraine and I'm grumpy as hell.

We thank God, though, for all we have and the knowledge that none of this ultimately defines us. Really, we were able to send Irene and the boys to a motel last night for a little respite, friends have given us a house at the beach for a week (with air conditioning!), we have an awesome HVAC guy who came out on the 4th and who can replace the system while we're gone, we can all reasonably expect to regain our health, we love each other and have friends and family who love us. We know that in fact, "all will be well."

But holy cow what a 4^th of July!