.... But Wait! There's More!

Once again, this post will contain no pictures.

No pictures of the Norovirus filled drive. No pictures of the multiple roadside stops to "yell at the grass."

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

As we embarked on the first leg of our 12 hour adventure back home from Canada, we should have known something was slightly amiss when Elsie started complaining of a stomach ache at breakfast. We just shrugged it off as a result of waiting too long to get her breakfast. We thought we had escaped relatively unscathed with only one family member (Elias) getting sick despite all of us being potentially exposed to the virus.... little did we know.

About 2 hours later as we sat in the little town of Radium Hotsprings, BC, Elsie's tummy-ache blossomed into a full-blown stomach-flu, which stretched it's infected tendrils to Dana, and ultimately to me as well.

What should have been another 4.5 hours to a condo on Schweitzer mountain, ID took closer to 6 as we had to make multiple roadside stops along the way.

Once we made it to Schweitzer, we were able to check into our place and quarantine ourselves away from any additional human contact, and by the next day were well enough to make a mad dash home (7 hours).

Amazingly enough, throughout all of this there were countless blessings.

• We were able to fully enjoy our time in Canada. Had we gotten sick there, we would have been holed up and unable to take advantage of the beautiful surrounding that we were there to enjoy.
• As I was the last one to fall prey to the virus, I was actually able to safely drive to ID and get checked in before completely collapsing.
• The place we stayed at in ID was beautiful, but more importantly - deserted. We had the whole place to ourselves. Nice and peaceful.
• Being sick on the road isn't fun, but at the same time, with an illness like this, it was actually a blessing to not be in our place where the risk of re-infection could be high.
• The condo had a washer and dryer in the unit to actively disinfect clothing, blankies, and stuffed thingys.

The best part of the whole experience came as Dana and I talked about finding joy in and through this or if it was even possible. On the outside, it seems like a situation where we just need to endure and that joy would be found in the the deliverance from it, but we found that not necessarily to be the case. There was great joy to be found in the midst of it.

Even through the repeated trips to the bathroom, no sleep, pulled stomach muscles from retching, dizzyness, and headaches, we were able to find joy in Jesus Christ. Not only did he endure far greater pain and suffering, even to the point of death, but he did it for us in love. For you, and for me. To be loved that much is certainly cause for celebration.