Another Unexpected Delay (Post from last week)

This post was written last week sometime. I have not had internet access to post. Carl is trying to teach me how to use my phone as a personal hotspot so hopefully I will be able to post more often.

 

We have not left the state of North Carolina, much to my dismay.

I thought that we would really be on the road by now.

At least one visit out of state.

But NOOOOOOOO!

I have struggled with this a bit. I have been just a little bit on the frustrated side of things. Carl has noticed and so have the kids.

These past few weeks have definitely not gone the way that I thought they should. Alex had a doctor’s appointment 3 weeks ago. He was finally given the go ahead to start putting pressure on the foot and go to physical therapy. It has been nothing but running him to therapy ever since. He has been going 2 times a week but it normally takes the entire day. I have been doing laundry the same day since I am out anyway. He has been doing very well getting used to walking again. He had another appointment last week and finally, after 3 ½ months, came out of the boot and was able to wear a shoe on that foot. Praise the Lord!!! He was so excited but he is realizing that it is going to take some time before he really gets back to normal. Therapy is painful for him but he realizes that he needs it in order to recover. He is in his third week of therapy with one more session on Thursday. He is then free to do the exercises at home. We will then be free to go on some real adventures. Well, not really. Not yet.

Carl has a 2 week class at Fort Lee, Virginia. We are going with him and will be staying near the base. He then has his regular Army duty in March. After that, we are heading south to do some visiting down there. Carl really wants to go to the Keys. We may not stay there as all the campgrounds down there are full this time of year. We just want to at least drive down there to see it. Carl and I really need to sit down and discuss and plan where we want to visit in the next few months. It is hard to do any research as all the campgrounds we have been at have had no internet. We used over our data plan last month and we cannot afford that much longer. I spent some time at my mom’s so that I could use her internet, well, and to visit with her too. She has been so gracious to allow us to use her house as a base of operations and to let us use her washing machine and dryer every once in a while. It has been nice to get out of the trailer for a few hours, especially on cold or rainy days.

Another unexpected delay has been that all the kids have been sick. It started with colds. Every child had runny noses, coughs, and headaches. No one had fevers but Daniel had a few nights with asthma issues. I was again able to forego a doctor’s visit by using my oils to stop the attack. I love my oils. I thought we were finally over the cold issue when Caleb started throwing up. I thought it was because of all the coughing. He had a day of throwing up and not feeling well at all. I thought we were over it and had dodged the bullet with the dreaded stomach flu but I was wrong. So WRONG!!!!!

We had gone to visit my mom because Caleb had not thrown up for 3 days. Right as we were getting ready for dinner, Tirzah threw up, all over me. I mean the kind of throw up where I had to borrow some of my mom’s clothes and wash mine. Then after dinner, Sam threw up. It was everywhere. I profusely apologized to my mom as I hurriedly tried to rush kids out the door. All the way back to the campground Tirzah and Sam threw up. Luckily we had given them bags so it was all contained. That night each child but Esther and Nathan got up and rushed to the trash can. The next day it continued with Nathan and Esther finally succumbing. It was a yucky day with the entire trailer smelling. We finally opened every vent and window even though it was cold. I felt bad for the kids because it was a Saturday and after 2 weeks of not seeing a soul in the campground, it was full of kids playing. My kids had to watch and hear all these kids riding their bikes and having fun in the woods. I felt so bad for them. The vomiting ended about midnight. Finally. The next day everyone woke up fine. We had very light meals all day and it was such a beautiful day that I sent them all outside so I could clean the trailer. I wiped every surface down with thieves and opened every window again. Since it was about 70 outside, it felt so nice. Tirzah was the only one who still felt bad. She did not throw up but she slept for about 5 hours in the morning and afternoon. When she woke up she was like a new woman, or little girl. The rest of the day was spent playing outside and waiting for Carl to get home. Unfortunately, Carl had meetings and was not able to get home until very late. It was a shame too because Sunday was his 43^rd birthday. What a great present, military duty and sick kids.

I was very fortunate to not get sick. Of course I was chugging thieves and peppermint and [KT1] lemon all day long. I was trying to get rid of a UTI that I got from being on antibiotics for my wisdom teeth. I diffused thieves the entire time the kids were sick too. I think all of that together prevented me from getting the cold or the stomach bug. Thank the Lord for his amazing creation of these oils that I have access too. He is good all the time.

Whew! What a whirlwind we have been on. It has been nonstop…something all the time. To tell you the truth I have been very discouraged. The entire time that the kids were sick, Carl was working at the Army unit. I was mad at him. Yep, MAD. I let him know it unfortunately. I lost focus on the whole idea behind the trip. I lost focus of why I am here, to bring glory and honor to God. I just let the sick kids and the cold days and being alone without Carl wear me down and it turned into …SIN!!! If you are a mom, you have been there. Right there in the midst of doing what you have to do and you feel like you just cannot do it anymore. You want to go into your room and curl up and cry. Only in my case, my room has sliding doors and I can hear everything going on in the 308 square feet that we call home. There was no way to get away from it. I remember one night Carl came home and it was chaos. I got mad and went outside in the freezing cold and just cried. Then…I looked up. I saw a vast array or stars shining in the dark sky. There were no lights around and no noise. It was like God gently reminding me that he was still there. In the midst of the chaos and the throw up and the runny noses, and the kids fighting, and the late nights waiting for Carl to come home, and the laundry piling up with no washing machine is sight, and the stove that will not stop burning everything, and the black water tank that fills up so fast, and the breaker that keeps tripping so that all the electricity goes off because a child turned on the water heater to do dishes, and the whining about school and what movie we are watching during our sick days, in the midst of it all, God is still there. He loves me so much and wants me to come to him. Sometimes my life gets in the way of truly seeing God. You see, I was still reading my Bible but I was not truly READING it. I mean, truly taking it in and asking God to reveal things to me through it. It was just something to check off. I had put that aside because I was so intent on cleaning and healing and cooking and stopping the chaos to see the blessings in it all. You see, I forgot the wonderful privilege and honor it is to be Carl’s wife and my kids mom. I forgot that this is what God has called me to. This is my ministry right now and nothing else matters. I forgot why we started this journey…JOY. Joy in everything. Joy in the sickness and chaos. Joy in the sorrow of realizing that Asa should be here this week. Joy in the fact that my husband has had military duty which is money to eat and go on this journey. Joy in it all, no matter how chaotic it gets. He is sufficient for it all.

On Sunday, while the kids were playing outside, I was able to sit down and really get some time alone with God. I opened up my life notebook and reread my goals for this trip and our family mission statement.  I took them and put them in laminating sleeves and posted them in the trailer. I want to be reminded every day of the why of this trip. The why of my life. The why of how I am raising my kids. The why of working together with Carl in our marriage. The why of my life. Why???? TO BRING GLORY TO GOD’S NAME. That is why? That is what I need to put in front of my eyes every day, multiple times a day, until I know it. Until it becomes a part of who I am. Until it streams out of me with abundance. Until my JOY, which comes from Christ, flows out of me with such exuberance that those around me cannot help but be affected by it. That is the Why!!!!