Sick of Being Sick

I had a book with this title when I was little.  It was about how to get more sympathy from people when you are sick.  One of their suggestions was to paint your tongue green and add white blotchy spots to your skin to make it look like your are sicker than you really are.  Are there any parents out there that would actually fall for such a thing?  Mine didn't, and yes, I tried it.  I also tried the old put your thermometer in a glass of hot water to make it look like you have a fever routine.  A fever of a 110 is a pretty hard sell.

We have been sick all but two weeks of this summer vacation.  The running tally is 5 cases of strep throat, 5 cases of stomach flu and several cases of "viral-something-or-other-highly-contagious-itis".  It's symptoms include:  fever, body aches, sore throat, rash, high pitched crying and other over dramatic behaviors. (That last symptom is mine.)

"My Speckley Baby Boy"  

We have completely checked out of the social scene - no church, play-dates,  family dinners, or even *gasp* WAFFLES!  I'm not sure I even remember what other big humans look like.  Yesterday everything came to a head.  The older/neglected children were trying to eat each other alive, Zaying was screaming (as he had been for 3 days) and it was pouring outside.   I felt like a caged animal, in a very loud zoo!    

(Now lest you think I have read my Sick of Being Sick book one too many times, I'm not actually looking for sympathy here.  I am just painting you a picture of the miserably sweet pity party I was having in my head.)

Everything was coming unraveled we had to get out, or I was going to lose it!  It wasn't thundering outside, so why not go play in the rain?  Sure! That's what a fun mom would do in this situation.  Right?  Well at least that's what I though. So I gathered the kids, we went outside, and for a few minutes it was marvelous!  I could feel the rain melting away the stress of being pent up for so long.  I decided to lead a playful march down the gutters and into a really big puddle at the end of the street.  Unfortunately, I didn't know that when it rains our gutters are REALLY slimy.

And slippery.

And I bit it.

Big time.

Thankfully, I had the fortitude to hold Zayin above my head so he wasn't hurt, but that meant I also couldn't brace myself for the fall.

It hurt.

ALOT!

But as I was laying there, deciding whether or not I would ever walk again, I remembered a resolution that my brother recently made.  His resolution is as follows - Resolved:  Not to grumble against God's providence.  (side note if you've haven't read the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, I highly recommend them.  Our college group has been going through them and making some of our own.  Good stuff.)

I realized then and there, as dirty gutter water gently washed over my pathetic life, that I have a lot of choices in life, and none of then include whether my kids are sick or well.  That is completely out of my hands.  But I can choose to be grateful that I have children that I get to see everyday, that I get to stay home with them while they are sick, that all their sicknesses have been treatable or minor, and that no matter what God is with me and He is in control.

So thank you, Lord, for 4 sick children and a trip down my scummy gutter to make me realize how wonderfully blessed I really am!



 

Once upon a time...

There was a softball game, and a very, very bored little boy.

(That my mom, ladies and gentlemen, in pink, playing her 27th year of softball! - Yep, she's a hoss!)

He tried to focus...he really did.  But softball just wasn't his game.

But just then, when he thought he might slip into a softball coma - he heard a voice. (or at least he would have if his brother could actually talk.)

"Pssst.  Micaiah.  Come check this out.  I don't know what it is, but it feels glorious between my toes."

"Zayin, my friend, forget toes, this is going everywhere!" (and as his mother, I can attest to the fact, that it was indeed everywhere! *wink*)   

"This is the life!  Why didn't I know about this until now?!"  

"I gotta tell Lash about this 'dirt'.  He is gonna LOVE it!"

"Can I, Mom, pleaaase?"

"We promise, Mrs. Kueffer, we'll take gooooood care of your son."

"Auntie Claire, It's not fair, everyone else is doing it."

"I promise you, Lash, if my brothers are doing it, you don't want any part of it.  Ooh - is that dirt over there?  Gimme some!"

And so ends the story of the bOring softball game, and the boys who didn't end up watching too much of it.  Sorry, Mom, I'm afraid they just might take after me.