So tired

After my wonderful day with the Lord things took a bad turn. I have been sick ever since. I have this nasty cough that just won't away. I have lovingly passed it to several of my children. The first week it was just me who felt bad. That Friday Sam cut his foot with one of Alex's wood carving tools (it no longer belongs to Alex). Off to the doctor. The next day we were back to get Tirzah checked out for pink eye. Drops for her. It was funny because the doctor asked me if I wanted the drops that killed it immediately and was no longer contagious or the drops that takes 3 days to kill it was she would be contagious that whole time. Duh! Off to the pharmacy for medicine. Monday we were back because Tirzah had a well check. I also took in Daniel because he had a cut on his head. (the handiwork of my sweet Nathan - let's just say the boy has good aim.) While there Daniel was found to have an ear infection and wheezing. Breathing treatment while there. Lovely. Tirzah checked out okay. Tiny but normal. Whew! Finally some good news from the doctor. Tuesday we were back because Sam had some asthma issues during the night. Breathing treatment but just monitoring. Wednesday and Thursday we were in the clear. Just coughing at home. Thursday night though Sam spiked a fever of 102 degrees. He was twitching ad totally out of it all night. His breathing rate was 55 (for those lucky parents who do not need to know what a normal breathing rate for a 4 year old is this is very high - 20 is about normal for his age.) Back to the doctor on Friday. Everything checked out okay. No pneumonia or ear infection. Whew! Saturday we drove down to my mom's. We are planning on driving to West Virginia on Monday to see my grandmother. She has never met Tirzah or Caleb. Saturday night was a disaster. No one got any sleep. Sam coughed all night long. Daniel whined about his ear hurting. We had held off on the antibiotics for him hoping that the ear infection would just go away on its own. No such luck. Sam was not improved in the morning and was running a fever again. More breathing treatments and no improvememnt. Back to the doctor on Sunday morning. By the time I got there he was fine and acting normal. Ughhhhhhhhhh! This time she decided to out him on steroid since he has been coughing for over a week and one albuterol that whole time. I am tired. So is everyone else. On top of everything else we got a phone call from my aunt in WV. My grandmother is in ICU in congestive heart failure and has pneumonia. Now it is even more important for us to get up there. On a good note. My sweet, wonderful husband who was not planning to go to WV with us has decided that he needs to go with us to help out with the kids so I can visit with my grandmother. Please pray that we will get there safely and be able to visit with her. She has been sick for so long and misses my grandfather. She has a relationship with Jesus so she is at peace with dying. She keeps saying that she just wants to go home. Please pray that this week will be less eventful than last week. Pray for strength for me as I continue to have a cough and that I will not get discouraged.

A day with the Lord

Carl had a conference in Wilmington this Monday. He had to be down there on Sunday night. Being the thoughtful and wonderful husband that he is he invited me to go along for a much needed day of rest. On Saturday we went to the museum of life and science's robot rumble with the kids. They had a great time. Caleb behaved himself for being in the stroller for the whole time. Esther, Nathan, Daniel, and William all got to control the robots for the bot hockey. They had a great time. We then went over my mom's house for a postponed Easter dinner. We had my mom's famous roast (courtesy of COSTCO), mashed potatoes, rolls, corn, punch, and cake for dessert. The kids had a good time guessing how many jelly beans were in the centerpiece. My mom won with a guess of 250. There were 246 in the jar. She is a good at estimating. We left the kids at my mom's house and left for home. We went to church in the morning where we enjoyed actually listening to the sermon instead of making kids be quiet. It was a good thing because we were able to hear about the church's vision for multividying. We are going to be dividing the church in two better geographic ones. We will be able to reach more people and grow more. We are excited.
After church went home to pack and head off to Wilmington. We checked into the hotel and walked along the river walk to Elijah's. We had a nice leisurely meal while watching the sun set. It was great. We walked back to the hotel and Carl worked on his presentation while I read my bible. No television or music. Just reading the word of God uninterrupted.
Carl left in the morning and Tirzah and I packed up the room and went down for breakfast. We ate at the hotel restaurant. We were able to eat outside and enjoy the great breakfast buffet. I even was able to get my meal for free. The very nice waitress was able to work it out for me. It pays to be very nice to people. After breakfast Tirzah and I took a walk on the river walk. I came back to the hotel and sat by the pool. It was in the shade. I spent the next several hours in God's word. Literally reading the bible for three hours is something I had not done in a very long time. I can't tell you how good it was to do that. I just kept reading and reading. I had brought other books to read but did not really get to them. It was just me and God all day. I did break for lunch but then came back to the hotel and read some more. Carl came back about 4:30 and we packed up to leave. On the way home Carl and I were able to talk about some of the things that God had revealed to me that day.
It was a great day and one that was long overdue. I have come to realize that I need to do this every 3 months or so. It is so important for me to make my relationship with Christ the most important thing.
Satan was not happy with the day I spent with the Lord. He had been attacking me this week. I have not felt well since we returned. Today I struggled with a migraine. I will not let him ruin what the Lord put on my heart. Pray that the joy from this day will not be stolen from me. I pray that other women will realize the importance of getting alone with the Lord.

A Fire Hazard

While I was driving down the road to the mall today (I had to return Alex's broken crocs) I heard a phrase in a song that just sttod out to me. I cannot remember the name of the song. I think it was by Lyndsay Taylor. I cannot even remember the exact wording of the prhase. All I can remember is that it was talking about a dry field and how they are the ones prone to fire. It just struck me that when my life is dry in regards to my relationship with Christ that I am opening myself up to the possibility of a fire. Now I know that God can send a trial our way when our relationship with him is going great. We are more prone to a fire of our own making though when we leave oursleves dry. It seems like I have been going through a dry spell lately, more like a drought. I want to, no I need to, make sure that I am working on making my relationship with Christ one that is flourishing and abundant. It take a lot of effort but it needs to be the number one priority in my life. When I do this all the other relationships in my life are right where they need to be. I don't want to live in a drought. I want a flourishing life.

Just Because

And yes, I do realize that Alex is not in any of these pictures. What can I say? I try but he just runs away. If I find one I will post it.