One day, while Mark and Silas (and Papa) were in Ukraine, Josiah started feeling bad.  Complaining of a stomachache, I dismissed it as a come and go thing.  When it didn’t go away the next day and he started walking a bit slumped over wincing when he climbed the steps, I thought it might be something a bit more serious.  When he couldn’t jump and started running a fever, we went to see his pediatrician.  Dr. B was not very happy with her assessment and sent us on to the ER and alerted the surgeons there.

After a couple of hours (and a bad assessment from a resident who, thankfully, was overridden by the surgeon and attending), we made our way to a room to await the surgeon to remove a very inflamed and pesky appendix.

He wasn’t too happy about being up until past midnight but managed a smile or two.   I was very grateful to have a laptop for him to watch videos while waited.

He fooled everyone in the ER because his attitude and pain level didn’t come through in his attitude.  He was so brave.  He pulled through surgery in the early morning hours and by the mid afternoon was able to sit up.

He got a special visit with former submariners who showed him a video and told him all about the subs.  He got a cool hat and an awesome picture.

I praise God for our wonderful pediatrician who knew what needed to be done right away.  We also had several friends and family who dropped everything and came to help me with the rest of the kiddos.  And for technology.  Mark spend most of the night (his early morning hours) on Google Hangouts talking with us and praying for Josiah.