Wow! It's hard to believe I have a 9 year old! The day before his birthday, we took a snack in to Jensen's class. Here he is with his teacher, wearing their special birthday hat while everyone sang for him.
Since his birthday fell on a weekend, we were able to party all day. We had the Miller gang over for brunch and had a great time. Then Jensen went to a birthday party for one of his classmates while I decorated his cake and made pizzas for his evening party. Jensen and Austin were caught in a major rainstorm on their way home, which totally thrilled Jensen. It reminded me so much of the day he was born. It was raining so hard that there was a foot of water around the hospital and I had to jump from the van to the steps. It rained most of that day and when he was finally born, the Bengalis said we should name him Badol which means rainy, cloudy sky. So in the middle of the present day storm, Badol looked at his dad with big excited eyes and said, "This is Badol!" He went on to say that this was his best birthday yet. I am so thankful that God has given him to our family.
On a "not so fun" note, we've had all kinds of illness going on around here. Austin has been sick for over a week now, the last few days of which he stayed in bed most of the time and felt really awful. He made another trip to the dr. who said the lab work didn't show anything and that it's probably giardia. The meds haven't helped so far but we hope they will soon. He was tired of laying around so he went to the office, even though he's still really weak. Jensen had impetigo and passed it on to Pruitt so they have both been on antibiotics. Pruitt is quite proud of the fact that he can now swallow pills! I keep watching Riley and have been rubbing any suspicious spots with Savlon. I've been keeping him home from school, just in case. He has a horrible cough too and couldn't stop coughing last night. Finally I sat in the bathroom with him and we breathed in steam for a while and I rubbed Unkers (like vix) on his chest and back and prayed for us all! He finally was able to go to sleep and didn't cough much more after that which meant I could sleep too. Thank God! And this morning his cough is lessening and sounding better. Pruitt, who went to bed at 5:30 pm with a migraine, woke early this morning and felt great - though hungry! So he and Jensen ate breakfast on the living room floor at 6 a. m. - and then ate another breakfast later when the others got up!
In the middle of it all, I have been blessed by kindness. My father-in-law made trips to the pharmacy and market for me. He also took the boys out for a few hours to play soccer in a nearby field while I took a much needed nap. A neighbor brought a tray over, loaded with Iftar goodies and asked that we join them on Eid. I've experienced the love and support of friends and am so grateful.
Before any of this started, I had a dream in which I was holding one of my sons and these 2 huge snakes were trying to attack us. In my dream I kept calling out to Jesus and the snakes, while they tried again and again to reach us, they could not. I woke up, wondering what it all meant. I am a firm believer that God gives us dreams as gifts to guide us and comfort us. Perhaps not every dream has a deep meaning to it, but I'm convinced that some of them do. Anyway, that is a whole discussion of its own. What rested in the back of my mind since then is that realization that no matter what happens, God is with us and its going to be okay.
No comments:
Post a Comment