Lost and Found: 4th of July

 The day started off the way most Fourth of July's do for me.  I woke up and thought of my 4th eight years ago.  This particular day, I remembered her when I put on the same dress that I wore eight years ago.  I guess it's because it is blue.  Although my 4th always starts out this way, I also have so many good memories of this holiday from my childhood that intermingle with this touch of sadness for the child I never got to know.  I am so blessed to have a big family to make memories with on Independence Day.

We started the day with daily Mass at the chapel with our own personal priest giving us a beautiful homily about faith and how it must change you.  Then we drove to Saarbrucken and got on our BBQ Donut.  That's right, you heard me correctly.  It's an inner-tube on the river with a grill in the middle!  Crazy stuff, right?!

The Brians Test Driving It

First thing was for Brian to test drive it, and the kids and I took some pictures while they were gone figuring out how to work this thing.

This is when the real fun began.  One Brian drove and one Brian grilled the meat and veggies we brought.  My job was to cut up the meat for everyone when it came off the grill.  That turned out to be more challenging and time consuming than usual.  The table was a funny shape and we only had one real knife, so I had to cut it up for all nine of us.

Hannah was trying to not get dirty, have any bugs land on her, or break a sweat in the sun.  She had a blast. 

Genevieve and I worked on a crossword puzzle some of the time.

My Two Little Loves

We accrued a good number of duck friends as we motored down the river.  They must be familiar with the BBQ Donut and the food that could fall from it.

If you look closely you can see our entourage of duck fans trailing us.

After our two hour BBQ Donut ride was over, we went home to get in a nap before the late night of fireworks commenced.  The fireworks were on the American base, there was a large carnival type thing that was going on most of the day.  We went to get something to eat for dinner and hung out with friends until it was time to get settled for the fireworks.

This is when our perfectly good day starts to spiral downwards.  We found a spot for our blankets, and Drew needed to go potty.  Then Bob say s he needs to go too.  Brian ended up taking all four boys and our two male friends along with them.  They had not been gone for long when the anthems begin and we all stand.  After the anthems, the fireworks immediately started going.  We turned to realize that we couldn't see a thing because they were exactly behind the tree.  We frantically grabbed our stuff and tried to find a close by place where we could see.  I didn't pick well.  In front of us, people were standing to watch the fireworks and we had to look between their heads (which kept moving) to see some of the fireworks.

Our cell phones were jammed in the area of the fireworks for some reason, so I couldn't message Brian our whereabouts, so I kept looking back to see if they materialized.  Eventually, they show up and Brian was frustrated that we couldn't really see still and so he grabbed one blanket and moved to another spot leaving me with Bobby and Drew, and the girls.  I didn't want to miss any more of the fireworks, so we just stayed in place, but I was lamenting the fact that we weren't all together.  I asked Drew if Judah was with Daddy and he said that he was with Godfather.  I said something to the effect of, "I hope so" and kept on watching the fireworks.  Bob wasn't sure about them, and so I was trying to make it seem super fun and not at all scary for his sake.

What seemed like about ten minutes later Brian comes back and asks if Judah is with me.  He proceeds to tell me, a little panicked, that he is not with him or Godfather and that he hadn't seen him since they started making their way back to us form the potty break.  Time to freak out.  It's dark and loud and my almost five year old son is missing in a sea of Americans all crowded into one little corner of Germany.

Isaac tried to help me look for him around the field while Brian disappeared to look for him too.  Again, remember that the cell phones were not working at all.  I was trying to stay calm, but had no idea where to look.  Brian came back about 10 minutes later with Judah, saying he found him in the Child Lost and Found where the military police had taken him when a nice lady had brought him to them after she'd found him wandering around crying.

It turned out that when the fireworks had started, Bobby started crying and Brian picked him up to carry him.  Judah covered his ears and was following behind, but at some point got distracted by watching the fireworks.  When he looked back up to find Daddy he was already lost.  

Our ridiculous view of the fireworks...if you're reading this, please sit down when people behind you are trying to see!

In Brian's defense, he's not at all used to having Bobby thrown in the mix for potty breaks.  It was a change in dynamic that he didn't think through.  When you have a big family, it is so common to pay attention to only the youngest and most helpless and assume the older ones can keep up.  It was a good reminder to us to talk again about our separation plan to the children and what to do in a similar situation.  It was also a good reminder to Brian and I to be more vigilant.  And finally, it was the best place for him to have gotten lost (even though it didn't seem like it at the time) as it turns out because they were all set up for the occurrence of lost children.

But it did ruin our fireworks for sure!  I barely saw those things, and not only because of the standing up people or the trees.  You better believe that I gave that boy the biggest, longest hug I could when I got him in my arms.  I covered him in kisses and told him a hundred of times how happy I was that he was safe with us again.