There is a Season

To everything there is a season...

A time for china dishes,

A time for paper plates.

Guess which time it is at our house right now.

Puzzles and Popcorn

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that puzzles are another good quiet activity that the children can do when they are sick.  Also Magformers have kept them well occupied and computer games.  We have eaten popcorn too.

One child has accidentally spilled a cup of water on herself and on the couch.  What I thought was a small spill turned out to be a big spill.  I found out after that child kept telling me how wet he was.  So I had this child move to the loveseat and found a big, wet spot underneath where they had been.  No wonder he was cold!

When I called the doctor's office yesterday to schedule an appointment for another child, the receptionist asked for her birthday.  I gave her mine instead.  There is only three days' difference between the two.  After a while you start losing it when there is this much sickness happening where you live.

Then there was the time two nights ago when I was administering medicine to two of the children.  After pouring the prescribed dosage in two medicine cups, I instructed each child to take their medicine before going to bed.  One child took both, and the other hesitated.  Thankfully we have lived through that too.

So we are surviving and staying in and getting well.  Today a little school (reading aloud by Mom) and lots of TLC.

I Will Sing

Even though all of the children are sick, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.  With my mouth will I make known God's faithfulness.  The children are recovering, and our long week of sickness is over, and another week has begun.  The children are not well but are better in varying stages.  I can thank God that I am not sick and can continue to minister to each one of them.  I can be thankful that things are no worse than they are and that the children are getting better.  We have cut back on our routine and are keeping things simple.  When there is a lot of sickness, it is time for survival mode.

1.  Simple meals - sandwiches, pb toast, baked potatoes, soup

2.  Book reading, drawing, quiet play, watching television and lots of rest

3.  Lots of liquids.  Eat when you feel like eating.  If you don't feel like eating, that is okay too as long as you are drinking something.

4.  School only if you have no fever and are well enough to play.

5.  Extra sleep is encouraged.

6.  Lots of TLC.

Day by Day

Chickadee started Tuesday by singing "The Magnificat" and "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" to herself.  On Wednesday the Ace was fine.  By Friday CW knew that her birthday party would not be this Saturday as originally planned.  The children are sick.  One by one they have fallen, and I am falling with them.  Not sick myself but sinking in spirits as each ones succumbs to this illness which I cannot prevent.  My unceasing prayer was that if it be the Lord's will that He would spare us all from this malady.  It was not His will.

Oh, Lord, Thy will, not mine, and yet I fight it oftentimes.  Help me, Lord, for when I am weak (and, yes, I am feeling weak), you are strong.  I need Thee every hour and am especially feeling that need right now.

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best—
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He Whose Name is Counselor and Power;
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
Ever to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside!

Prayer

'And here the poor mamma uttered a short prayer that she might be enabled to instil good principles into her children's minds, that so Kate, and Undine too, might know dust for dust whenever they saw it, let the outward world shine upon it never so brightly.'

From 'Motes in the Sunbeam', Parables of Nature by Margaret S. Gatty

Comparitive Birth Order

Ace:  CW is the oldest.  Chickadee is the middlest.  I am the youngest.

(That boy has got it all figured out!)