BEES!!

We are once again thankful for God's loving hand of protection over our children. As I recall the events that occurred around lunchtime last Thursday, I can see the way the Lord has things happen in order to show us something, while still keeping us from major tragedy.

Katie and I were working together to try to clean out the water tank that sits on the roof of our house. Abram and David were playing nicely in the front yard, where we could see them using sticks as hammers to "build a house." It was only a brief moment with eyes off of them and on the water tank before they were no longer in the front of the house, but were in the back, and both screaming wildly. I headed for the ladder as soon as I heard it, but Katie leaned over to see why was going. "Bees! They got in the bees!"

I skipped the last four steps of the ladder  and ran for the stairs. Abram met me in front of the house, with more bees than I could count attatched to his head, and with dozens more angrily swarming him. As I tried to swat them away from my son, I was quickly being taken up in the swarm as well. Katie came down the stairs right behind me as David was making his way around to the front of the house as well. Both boys were screaming in pain and desperation. In a semi panic, we were frantically trying to stand there and shoo the bees away. A few of the nearby neighbor women, after hearing the screaming and perhaps seeing a few angry bees come their way, rushed around to our gate,  which I just happened to consciously leave open that morning.  They rushed inside, grabbed the boys, and took off running. Knowing Bethany was safe inside in her bed, we ran too. The women parted directions with the boys, and bees swarmed the entire neighborhood. David went one direction and was stripped of all his clothes. I had stuck with Abram, and while I tended to him, the other women were calling for a motorcycle taxi to rush David to the hospital.

After being called and alerted of the situation, Barry rushed home and arrived before they took David.  He found us on Oscar's front porch, slathering David in baking soda paste from head to toe and silently pleading for God's intervention. While the commotion continued to draw a growing crowd, many of them had taken notice of Bethany's absence and were certain she needed rescued from inside our house, as if she was trapped in a burning building.  Rather, she was  in a pack-n-play inside a room with the door closed and screens in the windows, with the bees sealed out.  Despite our insisitance that Bethany was fine, and seemingly even safer where she was than out with us, one neighbor man put on a winter coat, his motorcycle helmet, gloves, and the rest of his gear and went searching for Bethany.

She was with us for a few minutes before we decided that the bees had calmed down enough to return home. Nearly two hours after the initial attack, we went home, while little David was still screaming and terrified.  The best option was to pray. He finally stopped crying and instantly fell asleep in his Daddy's arms.   Both boys still suffered some repercussions that afternoon as they were physically sick from so much venom in their systems, but the evidence of the Lord's protection was astounding! A peace came over us that told us they were both going to be alright. And what a testimony!  They knew it, too.  Someone told Barry about the bees in some areas swarming after the hurricane. Their hives were damaged in the storm, and they were so powerful that they were actually killing cows. He was the one to say that if it wasn't for God, our little boy would be gone.

David's head had been completely covered in bees. Hundreds of stingers were pulled from his skin. Six days later the swelling and redness returned so that I could more clearly see where each sting was, but I counted about 35 that had actually done damage.  That's a clear witness of the Lord's protection!  Our boys say they both learned something from the experience, and don't plan to do silly things with the bees anymore (David struck the hive several times with a stick). As parents, we have another reason to thank God for keeping them when the eyes of a mother fail to watch closely enough while little boys play.

Falling asleep after the incident

Six days later