Here We Are!

Merry Christmas!

Can you believe how quickly December is flying by? I feel like I am missing it completely. I am not complaining mind you, just stating a fact. I leave the house so rarely these days and every day seems to just blur into the days around it. The sameness of each day and lack of variety in activity makes it hard for me to believe we are in the middle of the wonderful Christmas season. That is because I have spent the last two weeks living with H1N1 in my house. This is day 15 of its visit. What an unwanted house guest! I keep telling him to leave, but he insists on staying until he has visited each one of us individually. Isn't he thoughtful?

Actually it started sooner than that. Four weeks ago we traveled to West Virginia and had a wonderful time! We made some memories that we will talk about at family reunions for years to come. While we were there though Joshua came down with congestion. Nothing serious, but definitely serious enough to make him an unwanted guest in any church nursery! He passed it on to some of his siblings and so I spent the week after our trip at home with the kids and missed church.

As the last kid recovered, someone came down with a stomach flu. The two youngest spent the next several days with the side effects this brings. (I will spare you the details...you are welcome!). Thursday evening of this second week of confinement finally saw the last child better. I looked forward to a normal weekend.

Friday morning we woke up and my husband complained of achiness. He proceeded to sleep the entire day! By evening a fever kicked in. Saturday morning Rachel woke up with a fever and by Saturday afternoon I also had a fever. Somewhere after that Ryan also came down with it. We also had aches, coughs, sore throats, headaches, etc. The fevers were high! Many times almost 105! Somewhere along the line someone asked if we had H1N1 (swine flu) and I looked into it. I was surprised how exactly we fit the list of symptoms. My husband ended up going to the doctor who confirmed that we did indeed have it. Before the four of us fully recovered the rest of the family started coming down with it. The last one was Jack who just got sick this past Thursday evening. People are in various stages of the recovery process while Jack is now in the worst of it.

Talk about family time! :) We have had lots of it! We were even ALL home for one Sunday. That is something very unusual in this pastor's family home! And when you say swine flu most people stay away so we have not had many visitors. We have had a few brave friends who have so graciously saw to our needs, especially while my husband and I were so sick. Nothing like hearing a knock on the door and finding someone standing there with ginger ale, orange juice, homemade soup, pizza, chocolate, get well cards and on the list goes. I feel loved and cared for...by my dear friends and especially by the great God who gave me my friends!

I have not taken many pictures during this time....we have not been much to look at! LOL! We had managed to get our tree up on Thanksgiving evening before we all fell sick and we decorated it the next day. My youngest has lived in pajamas most of the last two weeks which is fine with him. He loves his Thomas pjs. What is the use of being sick if you can't wear fun pajamas? ;) Here Joshua is holding Ricky's stuffed mongoose while watching Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. The children have definitely watched more videos than normal. It is one of the few things the "sickies" have felt like doing.



God has been so good to us and made sure all our needs were supplied during this time. He also sent extras along the way which have so encouraged my heart. I received a photo shoot gift card from a very sweet and thoughtful friend! That is something we are definitely going to enjoy using! We received another humidifier. I am so thankful for that! My sweet and wonderful Aunt sent me a jumper in the mail. And I received my prize from Amy's give away. How fun!




Another friend found for me some wonderful Americana pieces for my kitchen at our local vestry. One of the items was this beautiful bowl! It is a nice, heavy ceramic piece. She said she only paid fifty cents! AHHH...Don't you love a bargain?



I love all my Americana. I am now trying to collect a piece of Americana from every state. I already have several states. I have been taking pictures of different pieces and hope to show you here on my blog soon.

Also during all this illness I have enjoyed doing some reading. I read a book I had never read before. The Mysterious Alabaster Bottle by Elizabeth Rice Handford. I have always enjoyed all her books, especially Those Kids in Proverbsville.

With all that said, December keeps marching on whether I can keep up or not. Our days are reduced to homeschooling the healthy, caring for the sick, and keeping the dishes and laundry under control. Food requires little effort as few are very hungry and those that are want soup and toast. We have tried to keep up with our special calendar but have not been able to real well. (To read about this special calendar, click here. This is where we got the idea for ours.) We experimented with some new Christmas candy recipes and are enjoying the new Christmas wall calendar we made with Grandma last month. But it has not bothered me that our December is so unusually quiet. I can honestly say I am very thankful. Thankful that we are not sick with something terminal...just temporarily sick. Thankful to have a warm and comfortable place to live, especially when it is SOOOO cold outside. Thankful to have family and friends who love me and my family...love us enough to pray, call and care for us.Thankful that are cupboards full, and I have all the medicine, kleenex, orange juice and ginger ale needed to care for my family. Thankful that we LOVE being a family and truly enjoy being together; otherwise, it would be quite trying to spend these days constantly together.

Evenings, when it is finally quiet, I have been far too tired to blog. That requires coherent thoughts and I have not had too many of those. LOL I have enjoyed Farmville, a cute farming game that my sister and I enjoy. I have thoroughly enjoyed our late night phone calls as we farm on our laptops. Go ahead, roll your eyes, but we have enjoyed alot of late night laughter together. What a precious blessing to count your sister as your best girl friend. I am abundantly blessed to have her in my life. I am a far richer person because of what she has taught me through her godliness and character.

I look forward to saying good-bye to the swine flu soon. We are almost done! I am looking forward to sleeping all night because no sick children need help. I am looking forward to getting back on a regular schedule and routine as I tend to thrive on those things. But even as I look forward, I am thankful for our days together and for experiencing God's goodness through the last four weeks.

I have enjoyed reading many of your blogs. I love feeling like I had a chance to visit in your home. Thanks for taking a moment to visit with me. I am honored you chose to visit!

Thanks for stopping by,