Wowee Badowee!!

That is the only way I know how to describe this week, Wowzers!!

It has been a tough one. I feel like I have lived 3 weeks in the last 3 days.

You see, I am familiar with chaos. We live at a certain level of chaos in this house that I am comfortable with.

Some people might come into this environment and be immediately overwhelmed by the "normal" chaos that we live in. The chaos that I have experienced this week has just about sent me over the edge!!

It has been HARD!! Being sick as a mom is always difficult, but having sick or injured kids while you are sick is painful!

Rick and Cody were sick a couple of weeks ago. Rick is better and Cody is finishing up an antibiotic for an ear infection that developed.

Isaiah has been on breathing treatments for the last 2 weeks in order to prevent another hospital stay like he had this time last year!

Sam and Laila also got sick while I was gone.

I was sick before my weekend away with Lauren.

By the time we returned, Lauren was sick, too!

Abby is the only one still standing and she is supposed to have oral surgery tomorrow, so she will be joining us shortly.

Monday brought the usual things: dropping off and picking up kids from 3 different schools, feeding and clothing kids, laundry, etc. On top of all of those things, 5 of the 6 were in some stage of their sickness with medicines, vomiting, coughing, fevers, (you get the picture).

Yesterday was my breaking point. I decided Lauren and Sam needed to see the dr., but Cody was also getting braces so fitting everyone's appts. in the right time slots along with school pick ups and drop offs was a challenge beyond explanation. Truly, the stars had to align for me to get everyone where they needed to be at the right times.

Just about an hour into my day, Sam informs me that he has swallowed a metal Magnetix ball. REALLY??????? So, now I have a potential life threatening crisis on my hands. Swallowing magnets is not a good idea. Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, it was only metal and not magnetic.

That meant some good times ahead for me. I now had the task of digging through his poop each time he "dropped the kids off at the pool." Good Times! I know you are all jealous of my glamorous life.

Cody got his braces. He handled it really well, but I knew rough times were ahead. Sure enough, by the time I picked him up from school, he was in some serious pain.

I got Lauren and Sam to the doctor to get the diagnosis: Strep Throat! Let me just role play the scenario for you:

Me: Um, excuse me, doctor, but this is the reason Lauren got her tonsils removed. Why are we dealing with this again?

Doctor: Well you see, sometimes, even without tonsils, we can get strep.

Me: Fabulous, just fabulous.

After the dr., it is time to pick up the 3 kids at 3 separate schools, come home to my disaster of a house, and prepare food for everyone.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I am trying this eating plan for 11 days and yesterday was my "all fruit" day so I was hungry, and stressed, and did I say, hungry, because I was really hungry and could only eat fruit one more time that night.(I know that was a run-on sentence. I did it for effect).

The night continued with Laila throwing up, me digging through Sam's poop 2 times with no success, Cody in agony over his braces, and Lauren and Sam having to share an antibiotic because the pharmacy didn't get both of their prescriptions from the dr. office.

Today, Cody is reluctantly at school. Lauren and Sam are home for one more day of recovery. Laila's sickness is getting worse, Isaiah has had a breathing treatment, and I am now losing my voice(it is pretty hard to parent without a voice).

Random thing that sent me to an angry place: I am putting laundry away and discover that all the socks and underwear in Isaiah's drawer are wet. How in the world did that happen? No one has ANY idea. Those are the kinds of weird things that happen around here.

I am preparing for Abby's surgery tomorrow and our carpet cleaning on Friday.

I can't have any treats that I would normally enjoy during stressful times. I guess I am going to have to rely on the Lord. Wow, that is a concept.

If you are still reading this, I am guessing you love me or you can relate and want to see that other people's lives are hard, too!!

Either way, thanks for letting me vent. For some reason, I feel better.

I think it has to do with being known and understood and not alone.

If you are having a bad day or week or month or even year, you are not alone either. Let's band together!! Lift each other up! Carry each others' burdens! Share our frustrations.

It all seems so much smaller and easier when we have someone to share it with. It reminds me of this passage in Ecclesiastes 4.

9 Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their labor:

10 If either of them falls down,

one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls

and has no one to help them up.

11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one keep warm alone?

12 Though one may be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.