Sheer panic!

I have determined that 5 minutes is equal to eternity when you can't find your four year old child. Yesterday's events nearly caused a stroke in this mom!

We'd been playing outside/working in the yard all afternoon, and so we decided to go inside and get cleaned up before going to Scouts. I got the kids bathed and dressed, and then left Jonathan playing in the family room while I helped Matthew spike his hair. When I came back, Jonathan wasn't in anywhere to be seen. I asked Austin where Jonathan was, and he said that he was in the front room. After a quick check, I realized he wasn't there, and started to look for him. I called him over and over, and he never answered. So I figured that maybe he'd gotten outside and was playing on the trampoline or the swingset. Nope...not there.

By this point, panic is starting to set in. I went back in and started looking under beds and in closets. I sent Matthew to the neighbor's house to ask her to look. The neighborhood boys, who were riding bikes in the street, started helping us look for him. Jonathan's name was heard all over the neightborhood, being called by various people. Austin started walking through the woods around the house looking for him. And all I could think about was the creek that runs in front of our house, that pools deeply in a couple of places. And I prayed.

I guess I turned to go look there, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little head pop up in the front of Austin's new car. Yep...there he was. I opened the door, and heard, "I just wanted to get a Yoohoo!" And on the floor beside him was an empty Yoohoo box, and the rest of the Yoohoo's that Austin left there after going to the gym yesterday.

Talk about sheer panic. And then answered prayers.