It is well...

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Britt's back is feeling much better. Elisha is teething, but cheerful and well otherwise. She's figured out how to manuver stairs up and down very consistantly, mimics people's laughs and can now hug with pats. We haven't heard from DFACs and I'm hoping that no news is good news. Micah is doing well: trying to sound out words like KFC and wanting to climb walls like Spiderman. I'm enjoying a very quiet evening at home alone (except for two sleeping kids). Christmas and lots of family time and travel are right around the corner. We are part of a wonderful community of believers who challenge and encourage me in my faith. I've been more victorious over the battle in my mind lately, by the grace of God. It really is well with my soul. Thank you, Lord for your provision and faithfulness.

Climbing Out part 3

And the saga continues: Britt hurt his back and spent most of the day lying on the floor. Sigh!

Climbing Out part 2

And then on 12/16 DEFACs called and came for a home visit 15 minutes later to check on us. Our pediatrician had called Britt that morning to let him know she had to report us. She was apologetic. So we're waiting to hear back from DEFACs to see how we faired.
12/19 Elisha visited the neurosurgeon and he said her fractured skull (on the CT scan) looks like it is a clean break with no swelling or internal bleeding. He was very positive and said it should heal within 6 weeks. Elisha really liked him; she even tried to give him a kiss as he squatted down to talk with her as she wandered around his office. Thank you Lord for a good, easy visit. (It was in Atlanta at 8 am this morning!)
Britt is blessing me with some time by myself while he plays with the kids this morning - his first day of Christmas break from school. What an amazing husband the Lord has given me!
Maybe now things will settle down for a while?!?!

Climbing Out

Sometimes it helps just to write it all down. Here is our sickness/injury saga of 2008:
11/11-11/13 Micah was sick (cold symptoms and fever)
11/11&11/12 Micah missed preschool due to this sickness
11/13 Micah went to the doctor and had double ear infections
11/15 Elisha started running a fever
11/16 Elisha went to the doctor (urgent care). The doc told me Elisha had a virus that just needed to run its course. She did have fluid in her right ear that could turn into an infection, but it wasn't infected yet.
11/17 Gina was in labor with Norah and I assisted
11/21-24 Elisha and I were sick
11/22 Elisha went back to the doctor. Again the doc told me that Elisha just had a virus that needed to run its course. This time her ears were clear.
11/26 Elisha went to the doctor. She had an ear infection and a fluid filled bump on her head (We have no idea what she did to get this bump). She had X-rays taken of her head(what an adventure!) and we were told they were clear.
11/26-12/2 Britt was sick. He even didn't go to his family Thanksgiving celebration.
11/29 The doctor's office called us. They said the X-ray showed that Elisha had fractured her skull and we needed to come back in right away. We were sent from the urgent care at the pediatrician's office to the ER, where they did a CT scan. Praise the Lord - Elisha let them do the scan without having to medicate her at all! Everything looked fine on the CT scan - no internal bleeding or swelling...just a fractured skull and "a lot of brains", the doc said. "You have a very smart little girl."
12/5 Elisha had a follow up appointment at her pediatrician. We have a referral to a neurosurgeon just to make sure everything is okay.
Exhale - sigh - deep breathe...
Thank you Lord for good doctors, provision, friends and family who helped out during this time and kids who deal well with doctors and pain. I feel like I am still trying to recover emotionally from all of this - both the physical strain of all the running around and taking care of sick/hurt kids/husband, including not sleeping well and the disappointment and frustration of all of the things I didn't get done during this time to prepare for Christmas. And writing it down both validates it and helps me to have closure and move on.
Moving on . . . it's time to go get kids ready to have pictures taken. This is something I've been wanting to have done for quite a while now. Yippee!!!

Maybe...

I was telling the Lord last week, after a particularly tough day with Micah, that I really thought He and Britt were wrong
about me being fit to home-school Micah. Look at the spontaneous ideas He's given me this week to prove me wrong. 1. Micah has initiated getting to know the sounds letters make and has most of them down. I'm doing what I can to encourage this. Three mornings this week Micah has explored a bucket full of things starting with a particular letter of the alphabet and then we've talked about that letter and the sounds it makes.
2. I've always been concerned about what she'd do, while Micah and I were doing home school stuff. We played with beans and Elisha joined us fairly successfully.
3. Today took the cake. I filled the bucket full of things starting with C, including a book called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, in which the letters climb up and then fall out of the coconut tree. We made a coconut tree for our fridge and used the Leapfrog letters to reenact the book. That idea couldn't have come from me if I had stood on my head trying to come up with a creative idea. Micah loved making the letters fall all over the kitchen floor!
So here I am admitting, that I might actually be able to home-school my very intelligent, determined, creative first born, with the Lord's help and the support of my husband, family and friends. Lord, you really are sovereign and you certainly have a sense of humor! :)

Autumn Swings

What inexplicable joy my children bring - especially when they are smiling and laughing together!

Leftover Spaghetti

It's a lazy Saturday morning and I'm enjoying a little quiet time. Elisha is snuggled up in her bed with Piglet and Micah and Britt are at the library. (Micah is asserting his independence in the area of appearance as of late and convinced Britt to let him wear one water shoe (Croc-like shoes) and one sandal.) I sat down at the computer "for just a minute" (It's never just a minute, when I don't get interrupted.) to look for recipes for left over spaghetti. I have quite a bit from house church last night and was wondering if I might be able to jazz it up enough to take it to a function tonight with a bring-something-to-share requirement. I ran across this brilliant blog and spent some time perusing: teaandcookies.blogspot.com. The post about spaghetti was from August 2007. And now I have several ideas of what to do with my left over spaghetti. One of which is - go eat some right now! Ha!

Time vs. money

I went to the Gwinnett Kidsignments a few Saturdays back. I came home with 29 items and spent less than $40, including my decaf coffee from Starbucks. The shopping took me about 90 minutes. There were a lot of clothes to sort through and then each one needs to be examined for tears, stains, etc... The standing in line - the express line at that - was the bear! I stood in line almost as long as it took me to pick out the clothes. The kids are pretty set for fall and winter now. Micah has lots of hand-me-downs from his cousin Jeremiah; thanks Amy! All we will still purchase are shoes, socks and undergarments. Micah was thrilled with his Bob the Builder pjs for $0.75. I wonder, though, if all that time and the headache (next time I need to take myself a snack) are worth it. I think so. And next spring when it's time to do this again, I won't remember the hassle as clearly, just the thrill of some really great deals. Twenty nine of them, to be exact!

My Mantel Blessing

We've lived in our house for 11+ months now. The whole time I have wanted to have something pretty on the mantel. I put things up there that worked okay from what we already had. I know it's petty and not very important in the grand scheme of life. It certainly hasn't been a financial priority. That being said, the Lord really blessed me with the items on my mantel. It looks so much homier now and makes me smile. It looks like someone actually put some thought into it. It's not spectacular, but I like it. Here's how God did it. With two unexpected checks - one from the CDC for doing a survey about newborns and one from a settlement having something to do with using credit cards overseas - I was able to purchase the three big candle holders and the bamboo. Both I watched until they were 50% off at different stores. The little candle holder and the candles were purchased with a gift certificate someone had given me. The big mirror my mother bought me when we lived in our last apartment to cover up an electrical box in our entry way. Amazing! Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with something pretty that I really do not need!

sigh of success

at the end of the day, sometimes success is measured in what was accomplished:
7 loads of laundry - washed, dried and put away (one still in the dryer)
weekly dusting and vacuuming completed
1 shower taken + 20 minutes of quiet reading time
week planned and put on the calendar
weekly meals planned and grocery list compiled
groceries put away (after dear husband shopped!)
3 meals prepared and 3 kitchen clean-ups
photos uploaded and 2 blogs updated
diapers changed and bottoms wiped
1 bath given
3 stories read
2 children prayed with, kissed and snuggled and asleep by 9 pm
*i praise the Lord for days when there is a bit of order, things are accomplished and my world seems not to only consist of things to do that will quickly come undone or need to be redone. this i know for sure, prayers, kisses and snuggles do not come undone!*

On emotions and our will...

"Now the truth is, that this life is not to be lived in the emotions at all, but in the will, and therefore the varying states of emotion do not in the least disturb or affect the reality of the life, if only the will is kept steadfastly abiding in its center, God's will. . . . By the will I do not mean the wish of man, nor even his purpose, but the choice, the deciding power, the king, to which all that is in the man must yield obedience. . . . Our emotions belong to us, and are suffered and enjoyed by us, but they are not ourselves; and if God is to take possession of us, it must be into this central will or personality that He shall enter. If, then, He is reigning there by the power of His Spirit, all the rest of our nature must come under His sway; and as the will is, so is the man."
This really helped me obtain a tighter grasp on the concept that my emotions are completely separate from my responsibility to God. Now if only I can remember and apply this when I am tempted to use how I feel as an excuse to sin...
-Hannah Witall Smith (1832-1911), The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life

Psalm 46

Does something familiar in scripture ever just JUMP out at you? I was reading aloud in the car today to myself and Micah, parked outside a steeple-house, where we go for Micah's music class. This JUMPED out and almost overwhelmed me:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah (stop and reflect) . . . Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Now, my desire is to actually live like that is true - to choose not to fear, even in the scarriest of situations. I know that by His grace I am able.