Saturday night's call to 911

Saturday night was coming to close like anyone other Saturday night in our house. It was about 6:30, we had finished dinner and cleaning up the living room, and were getting ready to head up stairs to play before bath and bed. It’s pretty easy to get Isaac up stairs but Parker is a different story. He likes to run off and hide. We typically find him playing with Shaun's tools in the downstairs bathroom. Well, when I heard the door to the bathroom close I laughed and knew exactly where to find him. I walked down the hall and as I went to open the door, it stopped after about an inch and wouldn’t go any farther. I did a quick little panic and then realized what had happened.

The bathroom vanity sits just inside the door. It has a bottom drawer that Parker loves to open and play in. The problem is that if the drawer is open you can’t close the door. The bigger problem is that if the door is closed and the drawer is open, then you can’t open the door.

This meant that Parker was sitting inside the bathroom, with the lights out, trapped. He knew how to open the drawer but he didn’t know how to close it. My first thought was, “there is no way I am going to be able to get him out so I just need to call 911.” BUT, because Shaun is a fireman (who happened to be at work) he’s always telling me that, "people call us for the stupidest things so if you ever have to call make sure it's a real emergency!"… So I waited. I tried everything to get that door open. Sticking my hand underneath, golf clubs, spatulas, everything. By this time Parker is beginning to realize that he’s done being in the dark all by himself and he’s ready to be out. Thankfully my mom was visiting so she ran to get the neighbor. He rushed over every tool he had, including his son’s skinny little arms and hands. By now Parker’s whimpers have turned into cries and they are only getting louder. The whole time I kept thinking, “I just need to call 911 and this can all be over with.” After about 30 minutes of listening to my baby cry from the other side of the door, I dialed 911 and handed the phone to my mom. While we waited for the firefighters to arrive we kept trying to find a way to close the drawer… But still no luck. The little neighbor boy was able to reach his skinny little hand in the door just enough to turn the light on.

The firefighters arrived and they grabbed all their tools and began to try. Because Parker was practically screaming by now they went ahead and called the rescue squad because they had all the power tools. Four more firefighters show up and as they were trying to figure out what would cause the least amount of damage, I inform them that they just need to destroy my wall, break through, and get my baby out.

They asked me how tall he was and then decided that they would cut the door in half. They had to be careful because the whole time Parker was just behind the door trying to squeeze his little fingers through the crack every few minutes. I was doing my best to keep it together. I knew Parker was scared, but safe and that he just wanted out. I finally lost it though when the power saw came out. THAT THING WAS LOUD!!! I just kept picturing my little man on the other side of the door. All alone, not recognizing anyone’s voice, and now this noise that could drowned out the loudest person in the world.

45 minutes later, as the saw turned off and the firefighters busted through the sides of the door that were hidden from behind the door frame, they saw a scared little boy that just wanted his mommy! He only had one Spiderman slipper on, red eyes and a wet face from the tears that had been falling for so long, and of course a nose that had an endless flow of snot. When one of the firefighters picked him up and placed him in my arms it was as if I was holding him again for the first time. I couldn’t stop hugging and kissing him and telling him that everything was going to be ok! Parker wanted nothing to do with the firemen other than to wave good bye to them.

Of course I learned a valuable lesson through all this. Instead of calling the one source that I knew could rescue my baby immediately (911), I depended on myself and others. It seems that anytime I'm in trouble (or just looking for answer) I do the exact same thing... I turn to myself or others to fix the problem and to make everything ok again. However, it never seems to completely solve the issue or give me that true sense of peace that I'm looking for. Saturday night I was reminded that in times of trouble I need to call upon God to rescue me. Only He can truly satisfy. Two verses that popped in my head while I waiting anxiously to love on my little guy were: Psalms 91:2- The Lord is my refuge and my strength, my God, in whom I trust and Matthew 6:33- But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given unto you. One that I looked up later was Psalms 91:14- because he loves me, “says the LORD,” I will rescue him, I will protect him. For he acknowledges my name. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.