It’s official. My house is infested with raging germs. Last week it was the flu, and today Brooke and Zach were diagnosed with strep throat. In the past 8 days we’ve spent $360.00 at the pharmacy and we’re still sick. I’m over it, really! Can it just go away please?
Author Archives: Jen
P2R week 4
I’m gonna be honest right off the bat. I still have two verses that are kicking me from week 3 but I am not giving up. I will have these verses down by tomorrow, and then I am fully commited to carrying on with week 4. With that said, here is week 4.
Philippians 1:19-26
19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that will full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
There’s week 4. Who’s in this with me?
Where did last week go?
Last week is a blur of images in my head. I remember lots of fever checks and Motrin giving, followed by cough syrup and Tamiflu. The Tamiflu I remember well because the pharmacy gave us liquid for Matthew and it is disgusting. I mean in the worst possible way-BAD! Trying to get that down him twice a day without it making him sick was a feat in itself. Note to self – if the pharmacy doesn’t have pills in his dosage, drive to another pharmacy. Seriously.
Matthew still had a fever on Thursday, so he didn’t go to school on Friday. The big dilemma was going to be his basketball game on Saturday, but he really wanted to go. I told him that if he started coughing too much the coach may have him sit on the bench and he was ok with that. I think he really wanted to be there with his friends, and boy am I glad I took him. It was game 6 of 10 for these first graders, and God love ’em, they hadn’t had a win yet. Until Saturday!! That’s right people, they won! Finally they played against a team that was on their level. I swear the other teams have looked like they’ve been playing for years.
On the way out of the gym Matthew was coughing a lot. When I mentioned we might need to use the yucky cough medicine when we got home, he told Grammie and I that he had thrown up twice in his mouth on the court. Umm..gross!! And then he threw up in the parking lot. So probably not the best parenting decision, but when I asked him if it was worth it to be there and play in the winning game he said YES! Oh, the score was 14 – 12 and they play 6 quarters, 6 minutes in length. It was exciting people, I promise you that.
The game just wore me out so after running into the grocery store for a few things we headed over to the McDonalds drive thru. (Another great parenting moment) That was pretty much the most we had done all week, so I took a nap. I had bought some frozen pizza for dinner, but they all fended for themselves (oh my goodness, did that really happen??) and it was a quiet evening.
Brian was still sick yesterday so the kids and I went to church. It was an awesome day because in the two services, 15 people were baptized! FIFTEEN! I love how our church does baptisms. We’re all standing and singing, and the side screens light up with these amazing testimonies. Stories of sin and grace. Love, loss, mercy and forgiveness. Then they enter the baptismal and are baptized and we all cheer and party like its 1999. Just like the angels are in Heaven rejoicing, so do we!
All this leads me to today. I awoke with a plan to have a nice breakfast of oatmeal with berries and a banana,drive all children to their designated schools,pack a healthy lunch, and go to work. Simple plan that was going swimmingly until I reached the stop light right before the shop. My phone rang, and it was the middle school. Immediately I panic, but then I tell myself he probably just forgot something at home. I answer and the school nurse tells me that Zach is in the office throwing up. Really?!
By this time I’m already in the parking lot at work, so I go in and inform one of the guys what is going on and turn around and leave. I don’t know what we’re dealing with yet, because he’s been asleep since we came home. I do know that he was sitting in class and almost passed out. He developed tunnel vision, started shaking and got hot. While I was rehashing last weeks illnesses with the school nurse, she informed me that it has been a VERY busy few weeks for her.
So my boss isn’t happy with me for missing last week and now today, so I may get fired. And my boss is my husband! It’s not like I want my kids to be sick for crying out loud.
Did you have an eventful week?
Thirty Eight
Today I turned 38. I have the gray hairs to prove it. The first time I wrote 38 beside my name was this morning when I took Matthew to the doctor. He was a little whiny on Saturday, so I thought he was coming down with something, but then Sunday he seemed better. Yesterday I asked them to clean their rooms and he started complaining of a sore throat. Now being the great mom I am, I sprayed some Cepacol on his throat and sent him on his cleaning way. He didn’t complain anymore until we went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. Basketball practice tonight would have made it a little late to go out, so we rolled with it. Only when we got sat down at the restaraunt, Matthew looked really pale. Then he developed dark circles under his eyes, and before the salads came out his head was on the table! He got so sick, so quick! We stopped at CVS on the way home and stocked up on Motrin and cough syrup. His temp was 101 when we got home, and he went straight to bed. Without being asked. My baby is sick!
The Delsym didn’t work on his cough, so within a few hours he was up and in bed with me. We have a king size bed, so there’s a whole lotta room on the other side, but he snuggled up right next to me. Even his feet were hot! Our night was spent tossing and turning, and when he started moaning in his sleep I’d wake him up and take his temp, re dose him with Motrin and change the cool cloth on his head.
As I went to get his clothes this morning he said “Mom, can I tell you something?”. I leaned down on the bed next to him and he said “Happy Birthday”. Oh melt my heart you sweet boy! I gave him a hug and kissed his head, to which he said “are you sure you wanna do that?”. Oh how he brings me joy.
The strep test was negative but the flu test was strongly positive. Since we hadn’t had the fever for over 24 hours she prescribed Tamiflu, and even gave me prescriptions for the other kids. God bless her!! By the time we left the doctor and picked up the prescriptions, with some gatorade and popsicles, my boy was pooped! He came home and crashed out. We can’t seem to keep the fever under control, it’s been as high as 103 and I don’t like that.
Someone said they were sorry I had to spend my birthday like this. But ya know what? I’m a mom, and this is what a mom does. I hold heads when they are throwing up, and then I wipe mouths. I give hugs and kisses when they don’t feel well. I snuggle and rub backs and feed popsicles. I hate that my baby boy is so sick, but today is just another day. I happened to turn 38 today because 38 years ago my mom endured a difficult and painful labor with me, and God blessed me with another day. Another day that I can use to take care of my sick kiddo. And I am grateful to Him for that.
P2R-week 3
Philippians 1:12-18
12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.
P2R-end of week 2
Here I am at the end of week 2. I can’t tell you what I had for dinner last tuesday, but I can tell you Philippians 1:1-11!! I know that I cannot do this without the Lord’s help. It doesn’t come easily for me, and there are certain words that I stumble over, but I am sticking with it. I love how His Word is permeating my thoughts.
Philippians 1:7-11
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Things to remember
As a mom, I find myself trying to etch certain memories into my brain and heart to be kept with me forever. Whether it be the big things in life, or even something small in the grand scheme of things. Whatever it is, touches me so deeply that I don’t want to let it go. Ever.
So I decided to keep a list of them here, and will continually add to them. Being a perfectionist, I naturally want to go back to the beginning of time to start the list…but I won’t. Yet…
I always want to remember how gracefully Brooke dances, and the beautiful smile on her face when she does it.
The way Matthew crawls onto my lap for bedtime prayers and he wraps himself around me.
The way Zach thinks he’s too big for a hug but he still lets me hug him anyway.
Matthew calls his morning oatmeal…oakmeal. It’s so dang cute!
And lastly, when I step back and just observe them, how much love they have for each other. Yeah, they argue and fight over silly stuff, but they also have these great moments in time together. Shared sibling moments that I never experienced, and sometimes just don’t understand. But I love experiencing them through their moments. I am so blessed!
It was bound to happen
With two boys , ages 12 and 7, it was bound to happen. Or so they tell me. Other moms of wild and rambunctious boys who are obsessed with wrestling. Every time I turn around my boys are wrestling and rolling around on the floor, being really rough with each other. It seems brutal to me, but they assure me they’re just playing around. I’m constantly telling them to settle down, be nice, and hands off of each other. CONSTANTLY!
Two weeks ago Matthew accidentally hit Zach in the mouth, causing a swollen and bloody lip. Last week Zach accidentally hit Matthew just under his eye. I’m so used to the rough housing that I didn’t immediately pay attention. A little bit later I noticed something under his eye. A reddish blackened area that looked like this..
This is how it looked the next day when he went to school. Guys, let me just say that I felt so awful about sending him to school looking like this that I sent his teacher an email trying to explain it. I think I failed.
But I tell you it was bound to happen with these boys of mine. My sweet, precious boys.
A memorization challenge
My pastor has challenged us to do something beautifully difficult, something that will change our lives. Memorize the book of Philippians by Easter. The WHOLE book, not just a single verse. We just completed a Discipleship Training class where we would memorize a verse each week, along with spending daily time alone with God. I will be honest with you, there were some weeks that I would pick up the verse on the way to class because I just didn’t make it a priority. And if I try to remember those verses now, it doesn’t come easily. And that is SAD! Jesus gave me His Word to live by, and I am not fully utilizing it.
So the first time I read the challenge in an email, I breezed through it and didn’t think much about it. Well, really I thought it was impossible, but that was satan talking. Jesus said all things are possible with Him!! I read through it again and committed to doing it. We are one week in and I am throwing out the challenge to YOU. Yeah, you!! It doesn’t matter that I’m a week ahead of you, I want you to do this with me. I need you to do this with me.
The details can be found here. Partnering to Remember Philippians 2011 will change your life. In one week I’ve found myself quoting scripture while waiting in the car, while walking in a store, and it has been the last thing I think of at night and the first thing I do in the morning. It’s big. It’s difficult. Seek Him for help.
Please send me an email or leave a comment if you plan on taking this huge step towards Christ. I’d love to know about it!
Philippians 1:1-6
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jusus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. 4 Always, in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy. 5 Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
You can do this, I just did!
OneWord 2011
This has been hard for me, mainly because I am such an indecisive person. I like to look at things from various different angles. I like to see different perspectives. I’m a feeling kinda person. I could think of many many words that I would like to put into action and strive for, so how can I choose? Well, the truth is, I couldn’t. I was obsessed, thinking of words, and upset with myself that I couldn’t come up with one word!
So, after a few days of struggling with myself, I lay in bed one night and turned it over to God. I know, Duh, why didn’t I think of that sooner?? Well, I’m a stubborn sinner too. I often try to handle situations on my own, and then I consult the One who can help me. You should know this about me, and I’m working on it. Really! Anyway, I couldn’t fall asleep, which is so unusual for me. As I lay there praying for friends, I threw myself into the mix and asked God to give me His word. I told Him I didn’t want it to be my word, I wanted it to be the word that He would choose for me. (In my head I’m thinking it will be a pretty word like LOVE. Or peace. Maybe patience. Faithfulness, grace, mercy…you get the picture.
A song popped into my mind and I started singing along to “you and me baby we’re stuck like glue”, very quietly so as not to wake my sleeping husband. The song kept going on and on in my head until finally I began to question where is this coming from? I remember grabbing my phone and making a note. GLUE is this my word God? For 2011? His word? Bond adhere hold together strong. That was my note. I’m thinking, glue-really? That’s not a pretty word! Glue is messy!
After a few more days of waiting for a new word, I am convinced that Glue is my one word for 2011. It’s messy because I am messy. I sometimes make a mess of things. I have a Heavenly Father who cleans up after me. I need to fully rely on Him, and go to Him. Stick with Him like glue. Be bound to Him. Together we are stronger.
Here’s the verse that I found to go along with it. Job 14:17 AMP My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You glue up my iniquity. (to preserve it in full for the day of reckoning)
I plan to follow up on this later, but I wanted to commit my word to the world. My one word is GLUE.