Fireworks......

...were not so fun for us this year. Several of you are probably wondering why they weren't and the reason is because Joshua and I got burned by one this year. Let me tell you, it is NOT a pleasant experience!!! All of the cottages went to go see the city fireworks. We parked one block from the baseball fields at the church building. We would still have a great view of the show and yet be able to get out without much trouble once the show was over. There were people all around us shooting off their own fireworks. Before I get to the burn story...here are some pictures from before the show began, while we were all enjoying ourselves! (I had to crop one with Madison in it with boys b/c somehow in all the commotion of burns the ones of the kids together got deleted---I am upset about that b/c they were cute!)

Once the show started we were all intently watching the show. The kids LOVED them and Joshua just sat in my lap watching the sky. I have loved the 4th so much more since I have had kids because of their excitement (just like Christmas)! So about 5-7 minutes into the show two kids from the community have fireworks in their hands and they run across the street from where we are sitting on the ground at. They had one of the big fireworks that is down in a can with the fuse coming out the bottom of the can. They lit it and we watched several of their's go into the sky--which were beautiful! The next thing I knew I heard this shot like a rocket flying through the sky. Their can had turned over and the firework that was left shot right across the street at us. I noticed it just before it hit me in the chest. I dropped Joshua trying to get him away and started screaming from the burning! Jeremy was there helping me immediately and Misty was there immediately scooping Joshua up off the ground. As I am screaming about Joshua and making sure he is okay and Jeremy and Misty are telling me I am okay I realize that I don't think I an hear out of my left ear. So, of course I start screaming, "I can't hear!" A police officer rushes over to help. All I had noticed at that point was that my shirt had burned holes in it and then we notice Joshua is bleeding from his head. The policeman calls for an ambulance for Joshua and I we are trying to figure out where his bleeding is coming from. Later we figure out that when I dropped him to get him away from the firework his head hit the ground and got scratched. We spent an hour or two at the ER getting our wounds cleaned up. They even took pictures of our burns at the ER for our files (never had that done before). So, yesterday after we woke up I took some pictures of our burns. I am so thankful that I got the worst of it! Sadly though Joshua did get burnt by some of the sparks off the big one that hit me. Here are pictures of his wounds.
His right foot...Behind his right ear...His left arm...His left shoulder...Another shot of the shoulder...Here are my burns--

And the worst one, where the firework hit me straight on---Joshua is doing great. Since we got home from the ER he has acted like nothing was wrong which I am SOOOO thankful for. I am doing ok. My big burn has really been painful today and I am praying that when I go for a check-up tomorrow they are not going to have to scrub all that black off, even though that is what I know needs done. I get nauseated just thinking about it. My ear is fine internally but there is swelling around it. That is why I am having trouble hearing out of it. I can hear though and THAT is a HUGE blessing!!!

One thing that is weird about this is because it is such a small town Jeremy is walking into stores and people are talking about it. Please pray for our quick healing and also for the two kids that shot off the firework. They ran after it shot across the street and so the police are looking for them. Please pray for their hearts and for our hearts towards them. Hope y'all had a fun and safe 4th!!!