Our Peanut Scare

Our Eliana, age five, has a severe (as in fatal) allergy to peanuts. We've known about this since she was one and only have had once problem with it. Once Mikayla ate a peanut-butter sandwich somewhere, brushed her teeth, washed her face and kissed Elli on the cheek, which immediately blossomed and swelled.

But yesterday she was playing at a neighbor's house and the neighbor girl's bird-seed covered pine cone rolled into the street. Elli went out to get it and carried it back into the yard. It was then that the neighbor girl told her that it was covered with peanut butter. Elli dropped it and ran home. Marjorie and I were inside, and we heard Elli run into the bathroom, turn on the water and start crying. We scrubbed her hands, brushed under her fingernails and gave her benadryl. We had her Epipen handy, but thankfully didn't need to use it. Apart from some red blotches on her wrists and arms, she was okay.

I tucked her in at bedtime, and Marjorie went in a few minutes later to check on her. She was still awake and wanted to pray one more prayer. She prayed, "Dear God, please help me be okay, and not die. I don't want to die. I don't want my fingers to be dead either. Not any of me. And...if I die before I wake..." There was a long pause, while Marjorie thought she would finish the "Now I lay me" prayer. Instead she continued, "If I die before I wake....I guess I'll just be in the grave or something. Amen."

Marjorie had a long talk with her about the Kingdom of God and the promise of the resurrection, and she felt much better after that. But it was pretty funny in an Eliana sort-of-way.

She is fine this morning, thank God.