When It Rains, It Pours

I've had writer's block. Actually, so much has been happening, I haven't taken time to sit down and update. I suppose the writer's block comes from the fact that I just haven't known how to say it all. So here it is, not fancied up, just to the point.

Let's begin at the top. About 10 days or so ago, Wes and his family had to put his grandfather in the hospital. Heart problems with advanced dementia. Difficult for everyone.

At the same time, I took a little test, got a positive and found out that I was pregnant. Wonderful news. I was just beside myself. This was a very planned and prayed for baby.

We began telling our family and friends about the baby news, hoping it would help alleviate much of the stress of the other situations going on. Plus we were just so excited and Wes and I are terrible with secrets.

Our family vacation was in the works, but then put on hold until we figured out the long-term issues with Wes's grandfather.

Within a couple of days, I began having trouble with the pregnancy. Ended up miscarrying.

Jack started running a fever. Went to the doctor. Swine flu. Nice. All the while, I'm still "miscarrying". Doctor wouldn't give JA any medicine because she wasn't showing symptoms yet.

Finally, my washing machine broke. Not life and death, but very inconvenient when thrown in with everything else going on.

But things are looking up. We ended up finding a fantastic deal on a new washer and dryer. Drove 2 1/2 hours on Sunday with the kids, ate at a nasty restaurant but then went for ice cream to make up for it, and brought our new front load appliances home in the rain on a trailer. All household laundry, done.

Jack's swine flu has been contained to just himself and hasn't been that bad. Just a fever for about 36 hours, a little cough and some runny nose. That's about it. Good news is that JA hasn't gotten anything and Wes and I are still well.

The miscarriage. If it's not in God's will, it's not right for me. I'm okay with it. Very disappointed, but it's just one of those things. Besides, God gave me a verse back in the summer and I've been meditating on it ever since. Romans 5:28 - "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Isn't that the truth right now?

Grandad. He had other plans than staying in that hospital. He went to be with Jesus on Sunday night. Reunited with his wife and in a much better, peaceful place. The visitation for him is tomorrow and the funeral on Thursday. Will you pray for our family?

Whew! So that's where I've been. I hope things are going better where you are!

Deuteronomy 31:8

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave or forsake you. Do not be discouraged."

A Sticker Lady

This morning I had to run into the grocery store for ONE THING! JA was at preschool and it was almost time to pick her up, and very close to lunchtime for Jack. As I was trying to figure out the Kodak print machine, he was whining, crying, making a scene. I had my hand on his in the buggy but my back was turned. I realized that he was very quiet, all of a sudden. I turned around to find a little old lady hunched over, with her purse propped onto the buggy, digging deep into the abyss of her bag. (We all know the types.)

So she happily pulls out a sheet of Norman Rockwell stickers. She took a second to peel back several of the corners and proudly hands them to Jack. He and I both said thank you and she just smiled and went back to her shopping. Not another word was said.

I hope that when I grow older, that I remember to tuck sheets of stickers into my bag to give away at the grocery store to fussy children and their mommies. She was a blessing to me today. I only wish I knew how I could return the favor.

Thursday, September 3rd

You may remember back in the spring I wrote about Jordan Ann having headaches. After a while of not having them, they're back again. Not regularly, but enough to cause concern. We've seen the neurologist again and his recommendation is to do the MRI.

So tomorrow morning we check into the Batson's Children's Hospital so JA can be sedated and have the MRI. She knows nothing about this yet and while I'm going to try to make it "no big deal", you know as well as I do that it IS a big deal. It will be to her when I tell her that she can't eat breakfast or drink her milk and it's a big deal to me that my little girl will be knocked out and put into a machine.

Will you please pray for us? Her appointment is at 9:00am tomorrow, so if you think about it around then, I certainly would covet your prayers. Specifically, I am praying for a definitive answer one way or another, but also for the Lord's will no matter what.