Blech

So, if you happen to read this blog, I'm sure you noticed I've not posted in a rather long time. There is an explanation to this. It is called the plague.

Wait, you think, the plague doesn't exist anymore. That bubonic stuff, right? Well, it wasn't bubonic. I thought it was cholera. We all ended up with a horrid stomach virus this week. Started with Bugs on Sunday night. I was up doing laundry until three Monday morning. Let me tell you, my washer was not happy being awoken from slumber at one that morning. I end up sleeping with her in our bed and Hubbs slept on the couch. I had to strip our bed twice before the sun came up. She felt better at noon on Monday and I thought, good. And I prayed Beans wouldn't come down with it. Well, God answered that prayer not in the way I wanted. Beans woke up at two Tuesday morning crying in her bed. She had gotten sick ALL OVER her bed. I get her out, strip her out of of her jams and get her in the tub to get her cleaned up. And proceeded to throw out my back in the process. I bring her into bed with us (no way I was turning on lights to strip her sheets and risk waking up the eldest at that time of the night) where I finally had gotten smart and lined the bed under her with a fleece blanket and towels. Had to wash those within ten minutes of laying back down. So, for the second night in a row, my poor washing machine was aroused at a horrible hour to be run (I'm surprised it didn't revolt and decide to break after all that. Did the math, nearly twelve extra loads this week...). Beans was through being sick by eight in the morning. I on the other hand, was exhausted.

Hubbs went to Judo on Monday night and a guy fell on his leg and needless to say, Hubbs ended up hurt. We all get to go to the chiropractor Tuesday night after Hubbs was off work. Kids to keep them from getting sicker (worked like a charm, after we left, they were both back to 100% again instead of being so draggy). I got what I threw out giving Beans her bath that morning fixed and Hubbs got his knee fixed. Our friendly neighborhood chiropractor (and friend and judo instructor) gave us parents a preventative adjustment for the flu. I wish it would have worked...

On Wednesday, Hubbs goes to work, the girls and I take him. We meet him for lunch for something fun to do and run some errands. After we pick him up from work, we go to church and have supper. After supper, I start feeling like I have been hit by a cement truck. I figure I'm just being paranoid and we drop the girls in their classes and we go to the final night of the annual marriage seminar. Well, I make it to just about the end when I push past Hubbs and race to the restroom and loose my supper. I'm thankful that I made it to the restroom.... Hubbs picks the girls up from class and brings us home. Where I promptly wish for death. Suffice it to say I didn't know the human body was capable of ejecting body fluids at such force before that night. Hubbs was awesome and didn't get sick cleaning up after me. Let's say that even an adult sometimes can't make it to the bathroom in time....

Hubbs called work on Wednesday night and traded shifts with the afternoon guy. He figured that since the girls were over their being sick within twelve hours (at least the ejecting of body fluids), he would spend the morning at home and then go to work and close. Well, that was the plan. I was up sick until three Thursday morning before I finally was able to sleep. He let me sleep all morning and then came in and informed me that he was starting to feel sick. He ended up having to go to bed, and I laid in the recliner with the girls with movies on. He called in sick. He was hit the hardest. He had to call in sick Friday too. He went back to work today.

The kids are perfectly fine now. You can't tell they had been sick. Hubbs and I are taking longer to recover though. Guess that is what happens when you get old, you don't bounce back as fast. It doesn't help that I normally don't get very sick very often (like every other year for this sort of stuff at the most), and when I do get hit, it is normally a doozy. I don't wish this virus on my worst enemy...

So, because we were all sick, the housework took a hit this week. It is our turn to host small group this week too, so I've been busy today. House is looking fit for company nearly. Not complete, but most of the rest of this can get done after church tomorrow. You know, like picking up the kids' room. Like it would have stayed neat if we did it today. I do need to dust yet tonight, put baking soda to sit on the carpet overnight (blessing of having a very old dog that smells like old dog again fifteen minutes after you give her a bath) and then the dishes from today and a wipe down of the stove and counter tops. I even got the intake to the furnace vacuumed today!

Then, this week I get word that my uncle is real sick, couldn't get the antibiotics to work for a few days in the hospital. Then, my grandma's PET scan came back questionable so she was sent for another one this week that was more in depth or something, and I still haven't heard back. Then, yesterday, my SIL is taken to the hospital with a blood clot in her leg. She was told by the ultrasound tech scanning to see if that is what was it was in the ER that it was the largest clot she had ever seen. She's in the hospital a few more days as they pump her full of IV Coumidin and shots of heprin and waiting for test results to see if it is the result of her birth control pills or genetic. I am so ready for this week to be over...


Hope your week was as uneventful as mine.

Book Review for Book Sneeze 2.15.2010

Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God By Shelia Walsh

I wanted to throw this book out the window or in the trash while reading it. Not because it was poorly written, not because I didn't agree with it, but because I didn't want to hear what Ms. Walsh was saying to me.

You see, I too struggle with trust. I doubt God way more than I should. I too don't think that I, a simple wife, stay-at-home mom, sinner could have anything of worth to offer to God. I have struggled with depression, feelings of guilt and worthlessness. I've questioned my value as a woman. However, reading this book changed my outlook. It doesn't matter who you are, God LOVES YOU, and WANTS to live through you and use you for his glory.

Using examples of ordinary people who answered the call of God (people she's known, to the Biblical examples of Anna, Gideon, Paul, Tabitha and others) Sheila shows that how by simply learning to trust God, and making yourself available, God will do the rest. Yes, people make mistakes, we all sin, we all have things in our past that we think will render us useless, God wants to go from this point on. Not to say you don't need to seek forgiveness for your sins, but that from this point on, you can make it a point to trust God to bring you through whatever you are going through. Nor does she promise that it is easy, and she does share with her struggles in learning to trust on a day by day basis (glad to know I'm not alone). God isn't going to leave you the same person as when you started. He is constantly refining you and molding you into a citizen of heaven. We may never know this side of heaven why things happen, but rest assured, God will bring you through it, better than when you were before. We just have to trust Him to do what He needs to and follow His paths.

I highly reccomend this book to every woman. It will challenge you and change your outlook in regards to Whom you belong to and your worth.

Disclosure Notice: I received a complimentary copy of Beautiful Things Happen when a Woman Trusts God from Thomas Nelson as a member of the Book Sneeze blog reviewers in exchange for reading, writing and posting a book review. I have not been compensated for my review, other than getting to keep my copy of the book. All opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.

Company Coffee 2.12

Thankfully we don't have any snow here in SW. Missouri. We've had our fill, thank you very much. If I see any more this winter, I may just totally loose it. Though, Bugs keeps asking to go out and build another snowman. We told her it had to snow again and stick (totally bare yard finally), and she is praying for God to send us some more.

Bean's birthday is next Wednesday. She is going to have a Bob the Tomato cake. She loves Veggie Tales, and she is totally going to love it.

Monday was do our taxes day. After this year's return, all that will be left of our debt is my student loans and the house!!!!! You have no idea how excited this makes us. We will have the credit cards paid off (mainly all medical from having the Beans two years ago and an emergency car repair and subsequent car rental that the warranty didn't want to cover when it was supposed to. So those along with fixing the few things that need fixed on the car, paying off the car and the hospital bill from when Bugs was born will be done in the next week or two. It is such a relief to have this taken care of.

Hubbs is closing at work, like nearly every Friday night. I can't wait for him to get a job where he isn't gone at least two nights of the week, leaving me to tuck the kids into bed by myself. They behave worse when they know their daddy isn't home. They miss him. Can't say as I blame them, I miss having him home too.

We did get our dead car sold this week too. Was supposed to have been Sunday afternoon, but they guy didn't get back over here with the money for it until Monday night. Oh well. It is no longer in our driveway, which is fine by me, but in a way, it is still kind of sad. I wrote about it a while back. Blog titled Goodbye Old Car. Also wrote one about how providential selling it was. If you are interested in reading them, just go to my blog archives and click (right side of page, scroll down, I have it on the bottom for some reason... I don't have time to go link. I've got the Beans crawling around in my lap trying to help me type. It is nearing supper time and both the girls get very cranky if they are hungry. And I mean very cranky.

Got to go for now. Have a blessed coming week! And remember, do something wonderful for your husband on Sunday that he isn't expecting. Even something as simple as a cup of his favorite coffee in bed in the morning.

Tuesday Tips

Well, I realized today that it is Tuesday. I had wanted to do a Tuesday Tips thing when I started this blog, and have only done it like once or twice.

For today's tip, if you have young children (toddlers and preschoolers), insist on having a nap/quiet time each day. They can nap, or if they won't/don't nap, they can be quiet on their beds, a couch or wherever else you designate, for a designated period of time (you know your kids, you are the best judge of how long they can handle). Then, do something for yourself during the down time. Read a chapter in a book, take a shower, surf around on the internet. Even if it is just for twenty minutes, it is quite a boost to your self-confidence and sanity. Especially if you are snowed in for days on end or only have one car that your husband takes to work every day. This make take a week or two to train into your children, but trust me, the benefits are well worth it. I love quiet time. Beans still sleeps, and Bugs normally will lie on mine and Hubb's bed and "read" books. Today, she is having some seperation issues, so she is playing on the couch while I sit in the recliner with my legs up.

A freebie tip for you, if you know where the drain spout off your house is, and it has been raining and the temperature drops, don't walk onto where the puddle has turned into a sheet of ice. You'll fall down and hurt yourself. Thankfully I'm just a bit bruised, and I bruised the end of my bone that connects to the bottom of my knee so walking isn't too pleasant (thankfully fairly bearable with an elastic bandage on it) so I figure compression and rest today. Well, between loads of laundry, supervising the kids, making supper. You know, the life of a mom. At least typing is easy to do :-)

If you have a tip you would like to share, feel free to comment on the post! I do moderate just to ward off spam and unkind comments to others so if I don't get it up right away, I do apologize.

Have a blessed day!

Provision and Trust

Wow, is all I have to say tonight. The buyer of our car came and gave us the money tonight. He was supposed to have shown up yesterday and didn't make it for some reason. I'm not sure why. All I know is that this month's mortgage payment is sitting on the nightstand. Tomorrow on the way to work, Hubbs is dropping it off. The last few weeks at work have been kind of skimpy in the hours scheduled department. Hate retail post holiday season, especially hourly retail....anyway, I was talking to God quite a bit over the past week and a half about the fact that the mortgage payment was going to be way late this month as we had a very high natural gas bill to get paid, how I was counting down the night time diapers and as of tonight was going to use the last one, how we could use a few grocery items, the car needed some gas to get through this cold snap, how Hubbs really could use some new work clothes, the girls need new toothbrushes and we could use a few more things like body wash and toilet paper.

To start, Hubbs filed our taxes today. God is soooo good. Our taxes this year are paying his mom back for our furnace, they are totally clearing the credit card debt that ensued while I was pregnant with our Beans and dealing with a way to make the deductible where Hubbs used to work (let's just say it was a very high deductible), and the entire remainder of the loan on the car. We are also going to be able to replace the windshield on the car (it is cracked through thanks to a stray rock on the way back from my MIL's two trips ago), the muffler that is very holey and new tires (we have bald spots on the rear tires, yes, I know, not good) and possibly new shocks....there will be some left over from that, and it should pay off most if not possibly all of the Bugs. We are still paying her birth off due to bad insurance....ok, not bad, just not the greatest, a high deductible and then wouldn't cover things most other insurances typically do (and the fact that she was kept in the hospital two extra days due to the Hep. B vaccine and an over zealous pediatrician that was on call the weekend we had her). Then, we can resume paying on my student loans when those come out of forbearance in a few months and then if things work out the way we have planned, they will be nearly gone after tax season next year and hopefully we will have most of what we will need to pay cash for a used mini van saved up. Oh happy day.

Then, while I was laying down (I was sick most of the day, glad today was Hubb's day off, he gave me this lovely weird head cold thingy) there was a knock on the door. It was the guy who wanted to buy our car. He came to finalize the deal and apologize for not coming yesterday. I was laying down having a quite the discussion with God.

Me: Uh, God, you know the mortgage isn't paid this month (thankfully they don't get cranky about that until the tenth), we are going to need toilet paper this week, Hubbs doesn't have any body wash left, and we use our last diaper tonight on the Beans, and I don't think she is ready to go in panties overnight. Naps, we've gotten down, overnight, not yet.

God: Trust ME. It is going to be fine.

Me: I know it is going to be fine. You are in control. I know that we aren't going to be in this financial boat forever. I know You are going to get us out, I've known that for a long while. Which, if You could also just please tell me what we are to do in the line of Hubb's employment, you know, direction as to what to pursue, and How in the world am I going to get diapers tomorrow?

God: Be patient. Trust ME. I WILL PROVIDE.

During me pestering God about providing for us and me saying I really didn't see how it was going to work out this week, the buyer of the car knocked on the door. Man, I felt bad. I really was having trust issues. Still do to an extent. However, the timing of it all couldn't have been planned by a human.

I'm still blown away. God has this way of answering our prayers and providing for our needs at the best time for us. Even if we think it isn't the best time. Even when in our opinion He waits too long and we think causes us undue stress. Yet, His timing is perfect. It always has been, is now, and always will be.

Oh, and we did get diapers tonight.

Goodbye Old Car

Well, we finally sold the white car this morning. This was so providential. This money is making the mortgage payment this month. Due to a very high gas bill this last month, I was starting to get a tad bit worried about this month. Yet, I kept feeling God tell me that it is ok, He's got it covered. This morning, there was a knock on the door and a guy there asking if we wanted to sell it (less than we originally were wanting, but still nothing to sneeze at) because he needed the engine out of it. So, he is bringing us the money tomorrow and taking the car. I cleaned it out this morning after that. We had some stuff left in it from when we used to drive it. It is kind of sad, getting rid of it. That is the car that we brought the eldest home from the hospital in. It is the car in which my husband proposed to me. Yes, he proposed to me in the car. I had come to visit him while he was at school one weekend, and we had then gone to church that Sunday. There I had seen so many friends of mine that kept asking if Hubbs had finally (we had only been courting two years at that point) asked me to marry him. I kept telling them not yet. So, after church was over, we were in the car in the parking lot about to get ready to go to a friend's mom's house for lunch. Hubbs starts searching through the compartments of the car saying he thought it was right there...I'm thinking, great, he lost the keys. We were talking and I was saying that we needed to stop at a gas station to get a fake ring out of the vending machine so I could show my friend that he had finally given me a ring. I did find one of the light up rings in the car from one day when we were just playing around and being funny. He then pulls a box out of his pocket and says, why don't you show her this instead? I open the box and inside was the most gorgeous ring I could have ever imagined. I stop breathing for a few long seconds, and then I ask if it was what I thought it was. Hubbs said, "yep, what's your answer?" I said yes. Seven months and one day later we were married. We drove that car on our honeymoon too. Granted, it was a road trip back from where we got married in IL to our apartment in Missouri, but still. That car is a great part of our history together. In fact, when he was on his internship in Northern IL, and I lived in central, I had to get the transmission rebuilt on the jeep I had, so he let me borrow his car for the week my jeep was in the shop. That was while we were dating. And my favorite Valentine's Day ever was when the breaks went out on that car....I think I may have to go out and get a few pictures of the old girl.

Hubbs called in sick today. I think he has a sinus infection. He should be better tomorrow. I hope so. We had plans for the Super Bowl. We were going to go to the party our small group is holding. Supposed to be a ton of fun. That reminds me, I need to go and find my tiny crock pot so I can make my rotel and velveeta dip. Ok, so it isn't my recipe, but I'm the one bringing it.

It is still dark and dreary and it isn't supposed to get sunny again until the end of the week, at the earliest. Oh well. That is what lights are for. I'm shudder thinking of the next electric bill.

Need to go out and get the mail. Looks like a lot from watching the mail lady put it in the box.

Rambles

Day umpteen of overcloudy conditions. And of course, the street isn't plowed from last week. Like I truly expected the city to do such a logical thing. In all the years we've lived here, they have yet to plow residential sections of town. I miss living farther up north in some regards. There, they plow. They also know how to plow properly, and apply salt and sand in the prevention of ice... Yet, I don't know if I can cope during the winter with that much snow and clouds. This winter has been a tough one as it is...

Hubbs has a day off today, day two of his weekend. Tonight he tests for his yellow belt in judo. He is excited. The girls are happy to have him home. They love spending time with their daddy.

I got another book on the way from Book Sneeze. I can't wait. It is something to look forward to getting in the mail. Better than yet another bill.

Hubbs took the eldest to Walmart to get a pizza for lunch today. The youngest sat in my lap and whimpered the whole time they were gone. First time she has ever wanted to go with and expressed a desire to. She's getting so big and learning to express herself. It makes me glad. Now, to not have her decide to not ask for stuff because she doesn't think she deserves it when she doesn't get to go too. She is too much like her mother with her personality. I see so much of myself in her, stuff I struggle with that I have no idea how to guard against her turning into me. Guess this will be quite a learning process for the both of us. And she isn't two yet! Not for another 16 days anyway.

Bean's birthday. A mere 16 days away. I'm thinking of making her favorite lunch (hot dogs) and macaroni and cheese and then making a Bob cake. She loves Veggie Tales. And I have a Red Velvet cake mix. I had thought of a carrot cake, but that just seems wrong on too many levels.

Got to go scan the purchases. I was accepted into the Nielson Homescan panel. Kind of an inconvenience, but I think it will be worth it. They have some wonderful prizes.