Matthew has a Kidney Stone

Yesterday, for a few hours, Matthew felt the amount of pain, many women suffer through at child birth. He passed a kidney stone. All at once he felt pain that knocked him over and put him into a fetal position crying for help. I immediately called my sister who just happened to be passing close to our house on her way home from her sons' soccer games. Two minutes later (almost literally) they were at our home picking up our children so that I could take Matthew to get help. Oh how I love this sister and the tender mercies of a merciful Father in Heaven who put her exactly where I needed her to be at that moment. I wasn't sure where to go, so first we started at Urgent Care. Silly Sara. Yeah, there wasn't much they could do for us and they sent us on to the Emergency Room. I felt so bad that we had wasted precious time with Matthew in so much pain. He was writhing in the backseat and all I could do was nervously/inappropriately smile and drive as fast as possible in the front seat. We made it to the ER where they gratefully got us back to see someone within just a few minutes. Matthew paced and grunted and cried through the pain until they could get some blessed morphine into his system that almost immediately sent him into a silly stupor. Three hours later they sent us home with a second dose of morphine and some serious prescription meds for Matthew to pass the stone at home. And then twenty minutes later my niece showed up bearing my sweet children to my doorstep.

We are overwhelmed by the number of tender mercies and the obvious love the Lord showed us yesterday.

1. His brother also lived through a kidney stone and had shared his experience with Matthew so that Matthew immediately knew what was happening when the pain struck. 
2. As noted above, my sister was available and able to pick up our children almost immediately allowing us to get Matthew help as soon as possible.
3. It happened on a Saturday afternoon, not while Matthew was at work or we were otherwise engaged.
4. He had planned on going to a WWII air and car show with Boy Howdy and his brother but his brother couldn't make it so Matthew decided not to go.
5. Neither Urgent Care nor the ER were tremendously busy allowing us faster access to medical care.
6. We had just enough time to get Matthew's prescriptions filled and get take out before the kids came home.
7. There was a dance at the stake center just a few blocks from our house that my niece had planned on attending making dropping off our children on her way to the dance ideal.
8. Matthew passed the stone early this morning making attending Ward Council, church, an Elder's Quorum presidency meeting, and a dinner party possible. Also, his pain didn't start until after we had done our Saturday tidying and he had helped someone move. Heavenly Father wanted him to fulfill his priesthood duties with a clear head, and not writhing in pain and so he moved things along to make that possible.
9. Finally, hot date for Matthew and me while our children played happily with their cousins.

We are so grateful to the Lord for the best possible experience yesterday and to have been able to witness His hand so intimately orchestrating the entire day.