Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What Can Ya' Do, But Laugh?

A friend just e-mailed me and filled me in on what's going on her VERY pregnant life. It was exciting to hear the anticipation in her words over her first child. She ended the e-mail by asking.. "How are YOU doing?" I thought... Wow, now would be a great time to make a public announcement. THIS is how I'm doing...

All three boys are sick and have been sick for over a week. California has been hit hard with this nasty bug that produces fevers, coughs, sore throats and gunky noses. They fell one at a time, but now everyone is hacking up lungs around here... most recently, ME! I took the bug Monday night, and it's so NOT fun. Okay, so I'm not letting it change my week though.

We hit the books hard yesterday morning. The boys were doing great. We were all sitting around the dining room table working diligently on school work. Keirrah (the baby girl that I watch) was slumbering in her bed, in spite of the bug that caught her too. I was on the computer researching a new phonics book to get Caleb when the power went out. UGH... did I mention that we have had some pretty big storms rollin' through? We had over a foot of snow this past weekend! Yesterday it was mostly just raining, so I'm not sure what the power outage was about, but here we were in the dark. Another two minutes rolls by and the smoke alarm goes off downstairs. We open the door that goes downstairs and there's a MASSIVE amount of smoke filling up my downstairs!

9-1-1... What's your emergency?

I need fire crews at my house... my downstairs is full of smoke.

Per the dispatcher, I load the boys (still in their pj's... they're sick!) and a baby girl (who was happily sleeping) in our mini-van parked in front of the house. It's raining AND snowing while we sit there waiting for what seemed like an eternity while the fire crews make their way to our house. They arrive. I get out of my car and completely soak myself with rain walking from my car to the door to explain. I have this bug. I'm MISERABLE!!! My throat feels like they should take the extinguisher to IT!

After investigating, they found that the smoke was due to our pellet stove that was running earlier. It was still smoldering and when we lost power, the stove "burped" the smoke into the house. Shouldn't there be something in the manual about this? People lose power all the time, right? Anyhow, BIG relief... there's no fire in the house. Oooops... at least not YET. The fire fighter's ALSO found that TWO breakers are broke on our main electrical board. They shut those breakers down and instructed me NOT to turn them back on until an electrician comes out. Oh... no fire, but we now have no power downstairs. That wouldn't really be a huge deal (just an inconvenience) EXCEPT for the fact that our deep freezer is located down there.

With my throat STILL on fire and a HUGE headache, I start cleaning out the freezer upstairs (my side by side fridge/freezer) to make room for stuff. I am now a stress case and I just want to sit and have a big ol' cry because... I DON'T FEEL GOOD! I'm putting the meats and other miscellaneous things in a bag to haul upstairs when I drop a full bag of frozen hamburger patties on my middle toe!!! OWWWWWWW... now I AM sitting on the floor having a HUGE cry while crying out to God,

"Pleasssseee... STOP this crazy day!"

I packed my freezer upstairs (managing up and down the stairs with a firey throat, a head ache and a THROBBING toe) and then call a friend to ask her if I can bring over the excess that won't fit. I put everyone in the van again (it's still pouring down rain) and drive two bags of frozen goods to my friend's house. She lives a little further up than I do, so I have to trek through the snow in my mini van and HOPE TO GOD that I don't get stuck, because that kind of circumstance would REALLY go along with the kind of day that it was shaping up to be. I didn't get stuck. I made it back home. The baby's mom comes to pick her up and I make dinner and follow it with a shot of Nyquil and hit my pillow. I was gone. I don't even remember the boys saying good-night.

So... today's a new day. Today the sun is out (a little). Today we got out of our house for a bit (I'm now calling it the box of worries). My throat has blisters all over, but as long as I keep the ibuprofen nearby, I'm okay.

This too, shall pass.

Ummm ... how are YOU?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

L-O-V-E

Love. It's a four letter word that is profoundly amazing to me. It carries so much meaning in just four little letters. It tells a story. I have a story to tell...

God loves me. He loves me when I'm sitting in my chair with my bible and cup of coffee adoring Him. Bigger than that... He loves me when I have not been so good at showing my love for HIm. He has loved me when I have rejected Him. There was a time in my life when I was so full of anger, disappointment, and hurt that I turned my back on the one who knew about all that pain and suffering... and He knew there would be purpose in it.

I stayed in that "place" for awhile. I expected to feel alone, but I truly never did. I think one of the reasons I went there was BECAUSE I wanted to be alone. My heavenly Father never granted me that wish though. He knew (once again) what I needed. He faithfully sat by my side and waited for me to invite Him back in so that He could heal me. When I eventually offered Him that invitation, the healing came. As the healing came... so did the purpose. God's love is faithful AND amazing!

The pain that I'm speaking of came from the loss of our first two sons that were born too soon. After losing Kyle (our second born son), I laid in my hospital bed and informed my husband that I couldn't step back into church since it was beyond me WHY a God who loves me could "do this to me" a second time. I begged God to make it different. I pleaded with Him to prove Himself real to me by waking me from this nightmare. What I didn't realize then was that THROUGH this experience, He would become more real to me than ever... and my relationship with Him would change forever. Every circumstance that I face now is different because God made himself real to me THEN and taught me that life's hurts can also bring goodness. God's love is powerful.

In the end, God granted me my deepest desire... to be a mommy. I am reminded everyday of God's faithfulness in my life. As I look into the eyes of my children and experience their love, I receive God's faithful, amazing and powerful love. As I spend my quiet time with Him, adoring Him and the words that He has for me in the bible... I experience His sacrificial love. As I look back and think about all the times when He has drawn me in when I was trying my best to pull away, I feel like the luckiest girl on the earth to have been so sought after and LOVED.

My Father in heaven IS that four letter word. He IS love! He is the creator of everything. He is what makes love possible and ultimately, it is He who makes love so beautiful.

Friday, February 6, 2009

It's a boy!! (Uhhhh... are you shocked?)


Meet the newest member of our family. His name is Copper and he is SOOOOOO cute! He's not officially home yet, but his mommy and daddy belong to some friends of ours, so we get "visitation" once a week. He'll have his homecoming next month. Can you believe we're adding yet MORE testosterone to the family? Am I crazy or what? Actually, we were "signed up" for a girl puppy, but the mom only had BOYS. I SWEAR it's because I was involved. Girls just aren't supposed to be part of me right now. If I had never signed up for any of this litter, she probably would have had all girls! Oh well... we'll take him. He's precious...

Oh, and this site will remain Four Men and a Lady. That's what we are. A new puppy doesn't qualify as another "man". :0)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Prayer for a friend...

Please join me in prayer for a friend who lost her husband this past weekend. He died suddenly in his sleep due to a staph infection that he didn't even know he had. He went to bed Saturday night with what he thought was a toothache and he didn't wake up Sunday morning. My friend Rebecca has four children ages 8 to 1 MONTH old! She needs lots of prayers this week and for a long time to come. I am praying specifically that she will find an overwhelming sense of God's presence in this situation. I am also praying for the older children... that they too would know and feel the love of Jesus during this time of missing their daddy and seeing their mommy mourn him.

Hug your husbands and children lots today!