"Uncle!"

           There are some days that just feel like one big fight. By 5pm on Friday evening,  I was totally ready to cry "Uncle!" Mr. Blue Eyes started tossing his cookies and milk at 4 am on Thursday.  We went through no less than six outfits between the two of us. Homeschooling was a disaster between the puking and the mountains of extra laundry that resulted, but he seemed to feel better by the evening and gobbled down some mac 'n cheese. Big mistake.  The next two hours were full of pile after pile (splatter even got on my sheets--which I didn't get to till the following day) of regurgitated mac 'n cheese. The next day brought a couple more rounds of throw-up, but also a fever...and his cough was getting worse.
          At the same time that my sheets were getting splattered, the original daddy duck was loving on his lady and inadvertently hooked his leg on a nail when dismounting. He broke his leg and put his mating season on hold. Friday,  he saw our vet and got a splint on his leg. Due to our vet visit and a couple more rounds of puke, our school work was still not finished by 5pm.
      What happened at 5pm? I finally had the baby down for his first nap of the day, so I opened up my Bible. I was done. I had had it up to my eyeballs. I read John 14:1 which says, "Let not your heart be troubled (dismayed, agitated)..." I paused a moment and let that soak in. It wasn't even a whole verse, but the words refreshed my soul. The verse goes on to say that you should believe in Jesus just like you do God.
           I had no idea that I would be up at 1am the following day throwing up, or that Gracie would start throwing up at 4am (followed by Mary at 6:30am, Carrie at 8pm and Half-pint by 1am the following morning). The scripture kept rattling around in my brain. "Let not your heart be troubled..." With every clean  towel thrown down over Gracie's dirty sheets (where she threw up three times in the first two hours--gone are the days of full sheet changes in between pukes), I thanked God that at least I had stopped puking. In the weakness that comes after puking, I thanked God that at least Mr. Blue Eyes had stopped throwing up and running a fever. As I watched carefully for signs of dehydration,  I still felt His comfort. One phrase can make such a difference. I prayed out for wisdom and sometimes in frustration over the overwhelmingness of it all. I was super thankful for Charles' help through all this, but there were moments that I still wondered if I was doing the right thing. Dehydration and phlegm are bad combos. There was alot of diaper counting, popsickle making and juice given (we polished off our first bottle of Basil Oil and used Doterra's Breathe combo for the cough...which seemed as effective as the nebulizer was when he was diagnosed with pneumonia). Bottom line, it was God's mercy and, I believe, answers to repeated prayers that has gotten us through.

          We have had reason to laugh in the midst of all this though. I started running to Group One Crew's album "Outta Space Love" last month, and the first song on it is "Live It Up". While starting a load of laundry, I started singing lyrics about our bout with the stomach bug. Mary and I have decided to write a full song to that tune. She came up with using "Clean it up!" instead of "Live it up!" We'll let you know if we get the YouTube video up.  On Saturday (in the thick of our puke-a-thon), Mr. Blue Eye's crib rail fell apart. I couldn't help but laugh at our 18 year old crib (yup, it's a second hand beauty). I grabbed my phone and took a picture. They must build cribs expecting most people to stop after 2 or 3 kids. My hubby quickly helped me put it back together temporarily and joked about using duct tape to fix it. That part didn't make me laugh at the time, but today it does seems a little funny. A bit red neck, but funny. Don't worry. We intend to fix it properly.

          Yesterday, I read John 16 and the way the chapter ended seemed so fitting to our situation. I know, everyone has rough weeks...this just happened to be one of mine. If it's your turn, please remember this verse. John 16:31 in the Amplified Version says "I have told you these things,  so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence.  In the world you have tribulations and trails and distress and frustration;  but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident,  certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]