Calgon? Take me away.....

It's been one of those days today. I have 2 sick kiddies, 1 with a 104 temp. and the other with a headache and tummy ache. My oldest arrow got braces on Monday and she's been hurting all week. WOW! Where's the Calgon? Someone pass me some, I need a long hot bath, ALONE. :)

Now, don't misunderstand me. I LOVE moments like this when my kids are sick and they want me to hold them all day, but it is also physically tiring. I just feel drained today. So I had a few moments and went on Facebook. While checking out a few friends and their new status updates, I ran across one that got my attention. A friend wrote this....

God's promise from Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Believe this and be encouraged today! May the Lord bless you with His Presence and Power today!

Now, there's my Calgon! I don't need any hot bath, I don't need any rescuing from my children, I don't need to escape from it all.....I only need to look upon Christ. He is my Rock, my Savior, and in Him I will find rest....in Him I will find the strength to go another day. So, today I will fear not, I will look to Christ to strengthen me and uphold me.....whom will you look to? Calgon or Christ?

Let there be peace.........

Today I woke up sick. My head hurts, throat hurts, back hurts, nose is stuffy and I'm very tired. How can you go to be feeling fine, just tired and wake up like this? I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Is this emotional exhaustion? Is it a cold? I truly don't know. I do know that I am going to listen to my body and rest today.

I had a rough day yesterday. I have been spending much of my time in prayer and searching God's word lately, looking for truths. Trying to define myself, who does God want me to be, where does He want me to go? I haven't had alot of free time this past week or this weekend. Yesterday my sweet husband and I spent time talking about a relationship in my life that needs some attention and work. I took his advice and tried reaching out, but didn't get very far. I didn't get anywhere and I feel like I am back at square one. I keep praying for peace, but don't feel it and I don't know what to do. As I was talking to my husband this song came to me...."Let There Be Peace On Earth" you should notice it playing in the background...

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step i take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me

I believe in a sovereign God and I know that I didn't just think up this song. I know He wants me to make peace through Him with this relationship. Where do I start? How do I start? I feel like I am drowning and going in circles. I don't even know where this post is going...it feels so random like my thoughts. I guess sometimes you just need to vent and get things out there. Thanks for letting me purge on you and if you think about me through the day, could you lift me up in prayer? Thanks! Have a Blessed Day Y'all!

Blogging Break....

Sorry all, I am sick right now. There won't be any blogging for me for a few more days. I just don't have the energy right now. Pray for me. I guess it is just a cold, but it sure won't go away. I just feel tired, stuffy, throat hurts, coughing, achy from laying in bed so much and run down. Hope to be back soon, until then keep smiling!

Blessings, Blessed Mommy

Slow Progress

I finally feel like progress is being made. Three of the kids are much better, now just the two youngest are still sick. The 3 yr old arrow had to go back to the doctor yesterday, only for us to discover that she had a blood blister ON her ear drum....also known as "H. flu"

Haemophilus influenzae.....In infants and young children, H. influenzae type b (Hib) causes bacteremia, pneumonia, and acute bacterial meningitis. Occasionally, it causes cellulitis, osteomyelitis, epiglottitis, and joint infections. Due to routine use of the Hib conjugate vaccine in the U.S. since 1990, the incidence of invasive Hib disease has decreased to 1.3/100,000 in children. However, Hib remains a major cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children in developing countries where vaccine is not widely used. Unencapsulated H. influenzae (non-B type) causes ear (otitis media) and eye (conjunctivitis) infections and sinusitis in children, and is associated with pneumonia.

So, yes my kids are all vaccinated, but this is not the meningitis part of the infection....its from the pneumonia that she had last week. Although RARE for kids to get after being treated with antibiotics, it does still happen in a small number of kids. Well, for anyone that knows my family, you know that if its RARE it WILL happen to us! It is just part of the way God made us. (I mean my husband has been bitten by two black widow spiders on two separate occasions and now he his highly allergic to ant bites.) So I say, if it is rare, it will happen to us! I can laugh about it now, because I have come to expect the unexpected. Anyway, it explains alot of her screaming lately. She never told me anything hurt and I asked her a number of times. What hurts? Do you not feel good? And she always said nothing hurt and she did not feel sick anymore. LOL I think she was just tired of being sick and tried to convince herself she was better.

I am still keeping us on quarantine. We have been home since the doctor visit Monday. I did go out with just arrow 4 to the doctor and we washed our hands up to our elbows, and changed clothes to decontaminate. Daddy has gone to work, but decontaminates when he comes home. We will be home for another 3 days before venturing out anywhere. I am still thinking of keeping the younger ones home and only letting the older 3 go to basketball practice. It just makes more since to protect them until their immune systems are back up to 100%.

So, enough about sickness. It's Saturday, Daddy is home, we are still in our jammies and its almost noon!! That's a Wonderful day if you ask me. We will be watching movies and taking naps this afternoon. I LOVE WEEKENDS! Keep us in your prayers and have a Blessed Weekend.

Sick again!!!

It's been a long weekend. I have 2 kids with pneumonia and 1 with a sinus infection. When will the sickness madness end?? We have been sick off and on since November. I keep asking myself....what do I need to do? How can I get everyone healthy again? So after the doctor appointment and the pharmacy visit I went to GNC and bought a ton of stuff to help build up our immune systems again. I petition you again for prayers. Blessed Mommy is so tired from not sleeping through the night, as I tend to sick babes, give out medicine and administer breathing treatments every few hours. The youngest 2 arrows are both sick with pneumonia now, 103 fevers, crabby, achy, coughing like crazy and choking from coughing stuff up, not eating well at all and just pitiful sick. The oldest arrow is down with her 3rd sinus infection in 3 months. I am praying that the medicines work for everyone, that we have no relapses and maybe soon we can start back to school!!! It's been over a month since we had school. We are about 3 weeks behind schedule right now, not too bad, but I really don't want to get any further behind. Please pray for my arrows immune systems and for the sick ones to heal quickly. Thanks!

Have a Blessed Week Y'all!

It's Beginning to look alot like Christmas....

I mean, it FEELS alot like Christmas!! BBBBbrrrrrrrrr....it's cold outside. It is hard to believe that this week is only Thanksgiving. The weather here in NC is cold, cold and more cold with a slight breeze of cold. It's the kind of weather when you want to sit down with hot chocolate, a good Christmas movie, and cozy up by the fire. I LOVE this weather, as long as I don't have to go outside and my kids are healthy. Oh yeah, they are NOT healthy....so it makes for a miserable time.

Most of the kids are done or at the tail end of their medicine, but 2 still have horrible coughs and stuffy noses. And little man had a 102 fever all weekend long and just wanted to be held by mommy. My kids don't get sick alot, but when they do get sick its a serious, make it worth it sickness. If you think of us, please pray for the kids health. I pray that they are better by Thanksgiving Day...it looks like we will miss the Christmas Parade again this year. I don't think sick kids need to be outside in this bitter cold for hours watching a bunch of bands, floats, and other people riding down the street. It's just not worth the headache for mommy.

Anyway, I pray you all are healthy and warm. Happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for each and every one of you.

Blessings,
Blessed Mommy

One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six.....

Yes, six of us on antibiotics for some reason or another. When it rains it pours! I have 2 kids that had bronchitis last Thursday and are finished with their medicine. Monday we added one child to the list of medicine, Tuesday we added 2 more kids and then today we added Mommy! So in the past 7 days we have had 4 bronchitis infections, 1 sinus infection and 1 bladder infection. (I will leave it to you to figure out who has what)I am ready for the sickies to be over....anyone else dealing with sickies? Maybe this means we are getting it out of the way before the holidays.

On a happier note, I have been inspired by a friend to start sewing again. I bought some patterns online, cute flannel material at Hancock's, now I just need to make a little time. The girls are very excited about their new jammies. I thought I would start with some cute Christmas jammies for everyone, including our blessed boy arrow. So, I guess I will be spending less time on the computer and more time with my homemakers-in-the-making. I love spending time with my kids, especially when I am passing down a skill that I learned from my grandmother. I think it is such a blessing to be able pass on to the next generation. It seems that homemaking is a dying art these days....maybe we can do our part to make it a comeback.

Have a Blessed Day!

Passions...Desires...Sins....OH MY!

Have you ever had those times when you get so jealous? Like when your kids are sick and you have to stay home from church, miss lunch with friends after church and cancel Bible study?

We really love our Sundays. First we worship our Lord with all our hearts, through corporate worship, singing, prayer and then we attend Sunday school, where we look through the Bible for God's truths and how to apply them to our lives. Secondly, we enjoy the fellowship of other christian brothers and sisters. A large group of us go to Wendy's for lunch after church and Sunday school. Thirdly we host a home fellowship at our home. DH is an elder in our church and he leads us in a bible study. We are currently doing a study on "The Case for Kids" by Paul and Tedd Tripp. So, you see how busy our Sundays are, but they are all for the glory of God. While glorifying God we have fun! Fellowship is a big part of that fun.

Yesterday, I had 3 out of 5 arrows sick. Naturally I had to stay home with the kids. I kept all the kids home, since they were all fighting a cold of some kind. Saturday we had soccer games, it was COLD, windy and all the kids had stuffy noses this past week, more like allergies, not sickness. Well, the cold, wind, running around getting sweaty and cold must have did them in. They all coughed all night long and by Sunday morning they were miserable. I had to have DH cancel bible study for the evening and he went to lunch without us. The kids and I were very bummed. However, some of our friends were thoughtful enough (or so I thought) to call us and check in. They were all at Target, laughing, hooting and hollering having a GREAT time, without us. Needless to say, I felt the green monster welling up. Jealous of their healthy kids? Was I really jealous? Why did I feel this way? I should be happy and rejoicing that their kids are healthy, but I was selfishly jealous over MY missing out!! Later that day our friends called again....they were all enjoying some fun at a friends house in their HOT TUB!!! NOT AGAIN!!! Do you feel a pattern coming on? YUP....here it comes!!!!! GREEN UGLY and in FULL force. I was jealous even more so now. My friends were calling to check on me and the kids, hoping that we all felt better. I appreciate their concern, but man I just don't like the way my heart was reacting.

After dispensing medicine to each child for their cough, cold or stuffy nose, we enjoyed some "history" time. We have been enjoying a DVD of "Drive Through History" with Dave Stotts. It is only about a 10 minute little segment, then we talk about what we remember and reflect on the person we learned about. After the history lesson, we put the kids to bed. DH and I enjoy a bowl of ice cream most nights after the kids are in bed. We sit on the bed and eat our ice cream while either talking, watching TV or sometimes watching a DVD. Last night we watched Paul Tripp speaking out our Home School Conference. We purchased the DVDs at our home school convention instead of attending the session because it was a late hour and the kids were exhausted already. Well, the Lord knew I needed to watch and hear this speech at home too!! :) He was talking about James 4:1-3 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. What causes fights among you? Why do I get so angry over little things, because it gets in the way of what I want....my idols...my treasures. OUCH!!!!!!! So, not only was I in the midst of my own sin of jealousy, but now I see my idols. WHOA!!! I was just hoping for some downtime with DH and a little ice cream!!! God had bigger things in store for me.

I see my sin for what it is now....I see where I need to repent and change. Will you pray with me and for me?

Lord, forgive me for my sins. Forgive me for the jealousy of my heart and the treasures of my own passions and desires. Take these things from me so that YOU might be my only treasure and YOU would be my only passion. Lord, I ask that where there is more sin I need to see you would make it clear to me. I humble myself before you. May your name be glorified through all I do. May the light and love of Christ shine through my life here. Replace the passions of my heart from sinful things to holy and glorifying things. I pray all this in the name of Christ, Your Son, AMEN