This, Too, Shall Pass

That's what I keep telling myself. That's what older, wiser, saner moms tell me.

My sweet friend Christine and her husband GEF gave us their lovely beach house in Destin, FL, for Thanksgiving. We left M'ville on Wednesday afternoon. We arrived in Destin, but before going to the house, I dropped the fam off at Moe's (welcome to Moe's!) and ran next door to Publix to buy the cold stuff (no room in our van for a cooler).

Anyhoo, after a near physical altercation at the dairy case (you know how the grocery store the day before T'giving is!), I made it to the check out, Mojo chicken in hand (that's pronounced "mo-ho" for my non-publix going friends. I know this because I learned the hard way, after asking the Publix deli lady if the "mo-joe" chicken was good. I assumed she thought it was good enough for me, the non-cultured).

Thursday lunch we had a feast of sweet potato casserole (spuds from our own garden), roasted asparagus, my mom's dressing, and Michael's mom's mac-n-cheese, plus little mr. mo-joe. We ate Thanksgiving stuff for every meal on Thursday and Friday. My kids never want to see another bite of sweet spuds or a macaroni noodle ever again.

Thursday night Ethan woke up - again - sick. Deep cough, fever, you know the routine. My kids are sick more than any other kids I know. Why do you think that is? I'm not being rhetorical, here...I really want some comments on that...

He got sicker and sicker until we got him an antibiotic on Monday. Now, Molly is sick with the same thing, missed school today, and also has an antibiotic.

If you had stopped by my house today you would have caught me in my jammie pants and a sweatshirt. The clothes that I put into the washer yesterday are still there. I gave Molly her medicine tonight - one dose of a five day regimen - and she spit it all over me...one ENTIRE day on my red apron. I haven't been to church in 2 weeks. I just remembered that I have forgotten to make my kids lunches for tomorrow (it's now 11:35pm)...and I think lunch is soup, which they will hate. I need a haircut. Tonight I put my kids into bed at 6:50pm, and set Mason's clock ahead so he wouldn't know how early it was.

(I'm laughing right now)

So, this too shall pass. You know, even though things seem sometimes so out of control, I have it so good. I have everything I need. I have a husband who loves and cherishes me, great kids, a good relationship with my brother and father, friends, a home I love, health...I could go on and on. There will soon come a day when I won't have these kids at home keeping me busy, and calling my name every 10 seconds. There will soon come a day when people won't give me the grace they give me now when I DO stay in my jammies all day or go too long between haircuts or miss church to be with sick children. So you know what? This isn't so bad at all. Every good and perfect gift is from the Father above. So, for now, I pray for contentment in the mundane. I suppose I need to be asking the Father to help me serve him and worship him where I am and in what I'm doing, even if it seems unimportant, unorganized, inconsistent or redundant.

Suddenly I'm in the mood to hold my kids really tight, make some cookie dough, put on my jammie pants and watch "Finding Nemo" again. If that were the only thing I got done tomorrow, would it really be so bad?

Bless ya!

Thoughts on Throats and Throw-up

This past Friday we took our family to Lovely Isaac Creek for a camping trip. We were joined by our friends, the Lawrences (hi, guys!). I was a bit nervous about taking Ethan (almost 2) on his first camping trip - afraid he'd get cold at night, afraid he'd get bitten by something, afraid he'd get lost. You get the idea (by the way...be sure to check out my upcoming blog all about fear!). Well, the trip went off without a hitch. Without a hitch, I tell you!!

Then, Saturday night, after camping, sleeping (???) on the ground, and one tylenol PM later, as I was about to be nestled into my nice warm bed, Ethan started crying.

Michael went to pick him up and...Bluggghh...vomit!

I have a "defcon vomit mode" I fly into whenever one of the kids is sick. Isolate the child, strip the child, bathe the child, throw all the soiled items onto the washing machine, repeat as necessary. I started the process at once and lost track of how many times it was carried out.

Much later in the night Mason awoke crying and swollen-throated. I got the flashlight and looked. To my laywoman's eye, I think we are dealing with strep throat. (Today his temperature has been lingering around 102. Tomorrow is the Veteran's Day holiday...I hope the doctor's office is open!!!)

After I had Mason fixed up and back in bed, I was sitting with Ethan on the couch, holding him, patting his back, and ruing the moment I had chosen to take a tylenol PM. Sometimes children are so much work, and sometimes it's heartbreaking, but if Ethan, or any of my children needed me to, I would hold them all night. Many nights in a row. I would go without sleep, or anything at all. I would do anything for them. I was reflecting on these things and a warm feeling spread over me.

It was vomit.


After the defcon vomit routine, I got Ethan settled in a pallet next to the couch, and finally was able to close my eyes for a few minutes. I made it into my bed about 5:15am, just to close my eyes for a minute while Michael finished his shower. I knew he'd need a shirt ironed.

I woke at 7:30am. My precious husband gave his sermon in a wrinkled shirt.

Sometimes we just have to laugh at life. And thank God for laughter...!