the good and the bad

More than ever I find myself looking forward to Christmas "break"...which, in this season of my life, results in all 4 of my kids being home while both Jason and I are off work! Even though my eldest is only 6, he's old enough for me to know that time FLIES when it comes to raising children and he'll be 30 before I wake up tomorrow. So, the beauty of us all having down time together is screamingly obvious to me and I anticipate soaking it up months in advance.

I also cringe during the weeks leading up to it if someone sneezes or sniffles or coughs or complains of anything hurting b/c we've known way to many weeks "off" where we were all down for the count with a flu or some stomach virus or something else horrible. While there is nothing greater than us all at home together healthy and playful...there is quite possibly nothing more difficult than us all being home together terribly sick. THis is extra hard when your kids are young and sickness means they want you to hold them 24/7 and won't give you any warning when they plan to peuk and often cough right in your face and have extra meltdowns due to lack of sleep. My kids have gotten older, so it is getting easier to survive when they are sick. Even still, it's H-A-R-D.

This break we began all coughing our heads off...but, seemingly on the mend. Then Jason ended up with pneumonia and a sinus infection, Baysil ended up with RSV, Kiah had an asthma attack and now that those 2 weeks are wrapping up, Baysil puked 8 times today. Whoah.

However, I've had practice keeping my perspective in check during similar scenarios in recent years. I've fallen on my face countless times as I've let myself sulk, whine, and miss the small good things in the mix.

This time I was bent on salvaging the good things I could even though we weren't the healthiest bunch. You know what, God totally gave me the grace to do just that. Looking back, there were some really disappointing moments and some hard times, but I also see the crafts we created, the stories we read, the lights we drove around to admire, the cookies we baked, the songs we sang, the videos we watched, the pictures we colored, the laughter we shared...it was a good couple of weeks and an appropriate celebration of Jesus' love for us through his ultimate sacrifice of coming to earth as a baby to later die for our sins.

Happy New Year!!