Sunburns, Greyson, and my Heavenly Father

First of all for those of you hoping to hear some of my sweet wife's humor and elegant prose you may be disappointed to find out that this is not Stephanie, it is Phillip. I have become a silent partner in the world of blogging. Many of you may not realize but it was me who created and built the original "thehumphrey5" blog. However I do realize that it is Stephanie who has built it into a place where people want to come and hang out.

Much like the prophets of old (not that I am even remotely comparing myself to a prophet) were compelled to write their experiences, I too have felt inclined to post some of my thoughts and experiences the past few days.

Last Saturday, we were fortunate to have been invited to go with some friends to the lake. Thank you Thomas, Tanner, and Sorenson families for such a great time. As can often be the case when you spend the entire day boating, swimming, and tubing many of us returned home with sunburns. Yes, we tried to be responsible parents and each of our kids started with a nice slathering of SPF50 sunblock (except for Steph who is trying to get skin cancer, I mean "Tan"). Needless to say it did not protect us all day and we were too enthralled in fun to remember to reapply. Greyson got the worst of it. By the time we got home he was lobster red and in a lot a pain. We tried everything we could think of to help him feel better including Tylenol and aloe.

Sunday arrived and Greyson could hardly move his arms to get a shirt on so we kept him home from Church. He stayed half naked all day till we had to go back to church for a fireside I was helping with. We got a shirt on him and headed to the church, dropped him off with the babysitter in the primary room and went to the fireside. When we returned an hour later the sitter told us that a blister had popped and that she had put some gauze on. Shortly after another blister popped, then another and another. By the time we got home he had four blisters, three about silver dollar size and a fourth the size of a quarter that had popped and exposed the tender skin underneath. He was in even more pain and there was nothing we could do to help. Everything we did seemed to sting and burn. Only Tylenol seemed to give him any relief. I gave him a priesthood blessing and then he went to bed. Sleep was not easy that night as Steph tried to find a comfortable sleeping spot for him. It was very emotionally hard to see your son in so much pain with nothing you can do to help.

Monday we called the doctor to find out if there was anything we could do to ease his pain and insure that the blisters were correctly treated. Eight hours later it took the doctors office thirty seconds to tell us to treat it with Aloe. Needless to say, I was not very happy with them. Again we were headed for what looked to be a long night. About 11:30 I sent Steph to sleep in Greyson's bed (he was in ours) and I would care for him. He slept till about 12:30 and woke up crying in pain. I found myself ready to cry for him as well. It is very hard to sit next to your child in pain and find yourself helpless to do anything. He again fell asleep, but I did not. I found myself driven to my knees pleading to my Heavenly Father for my son. My heart and mind were opened to a realization that my Heavenly Father understood how I was feeling. He too watched his son suffer pain and agony and there was nothing that he could do. He understood that it was necessary for our salvation to allow our Savior to suffer unimaginable pain so that all his children would be able to return clean and pure to live in his presence. As I cried and pleaded to my Heavenly Father for a small miracle I felt reassured that he too loved Greyson and did not want to see him suffer. I arose from my prayer and noticed Grey sleeping on his shoulder, something he could not do earlier in the evening. We awoke one more time that evening about 3:30 took some more Tylenol, repositioned and fell right to sleep.

I awoke this morning about 8:00 to sound a laughter and playing. I went to the living room to find all three kids making a town for their Build-a-Bears out of boxes. Greyson looked like he was a new boy. Every once in a while you could see that maybe he bumped something that hurt but kept playing with only a wince. Prior to this he would scream and cry in pain at the slightest touch. I know that he was blessed and I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who hears my prayers, loves me, and teaches me. As painful as this sunburn has been for Greyson and emotionally difficult it has been for me and Steph, we only experienced a small portion of what our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father did. I am grateful to him for the sacrifice of his son, and eternally grateful to my Savior.

To all those that read this whole post, thank you for listening, and I promise that I will have Stephanie post something a little more light hearted and fun next time.