Well, C left early this morning for a week long hunting trip. I'm excited for him. Time by ourselves is of the essence. Months ago, it would have been much harder for me to say goodbye. I would have been really depressed and lonely. But I can see how much God is allowing us to be satisfied and content...more and more each day.
We have started regularly attending a church that we've decided to call our "home". We had been "shopping around" for quite some time...almost a year, so the feeling is wonderful...we are settling in. I've found that when you move, it just takes a while to get settled and connected. But what a good feeling it is when it finally comes!
A few weeks ago we signed up to host a home group. We enjoy every. last. drop of it. We clean, I bake, we set up. People arrive and our home is full. We meet new people. We talk to people that linger a little longer and learn what their story is. Last night we talked with an older doctor who was alone (his wife is away with grandkids). We learned he had been run over on I-5 when he was 25 years old and has suffered ever since. He had an amazing story and we felt blessed to have heard it. And...an invitation for dinner soon. It just feels so wonderful to have fellowship and friends who are believers. We are just on the same page, and it's great. ...feeling content and at peace. I really feel God working, and it's exciting!
What a crazy hectic weekend. Phew! I am so worn out and emotionally exhausted--we had one of the most exciting weekends in a long time, and not in a good way.
Hmm..where should I start? Friday Christian left for a long awaited guy's weekend up in the middle of nowhere. Knowing he would be gone, I planned a girl's night at my house with wine and movies...the works :) There was drama at my girls' night, but I'll leave that out. Anyhoo, so I get a call from Christian in the middle of my movie saying that his brother Levi has been stung by something and is having chest pains, shortness of breath, and swelling. AND, they are about 1 1/2 hours from anywhere. So they were rushing to the hospital, but barely even had cell service. So my girls' night turned into me worrying and texting, worrying and texting. C also informed me that they had had a run-in with a cougar the night before and he was on the brink of shooting at it through the tent. (I've decided that gee, guy's weekend in the woods sounds like so much fun--I'm going next year!)
So Levi apparently got stung by a hornet and was having a terrible allergic reaction to it. They gave him some medicine and they came and stayed the night here. The next morning, I dropped Noah off at my mom's and drove all the way back out to the campsite with C & Levi to help them load everything up (they had left all their stuff up there). We get home, I pick up Noah and put him down to sleep...have some lunch, and Levi leaves. So I'm snoozing on the couch and Christian starts saying his face is itchy, and his eyes are burning. So he goes up to get in the shower then a few minutes later is hollering at me to come look.
I basically came up the stairs to find a monster in my midst. Seriously--eyes almost completely swollen shut, HUGE hives all over, swollen lips, coughing, shortness of breath, and terrible stomach cramps. I can't believe how fast this all happened! (**On a side note--Christian has like, the HIGHEST pain tolerance I've ever seen. Since he got hurt in Iraq, pain is not something he even complains about--ever. And often in the hospital he would be asked what his pain was, on a scale of 1-10, and he'd usually say like a 4 or 5...when it got to 8 he couldn't even talk, but that was rare).
Anyway, so I asked him if I needed to take him to the hospital and he said he thought so...wouldn't you know that Noah was napping, so I started calling grandparents to see if one of them could come over and be here with Noah so I could take C to the hospital. And no one answered. Finally after a few minutes C's parents called back and I explained what was going on. By this point, he was in the bathroom keeled over in pain and crying...wondering if he'd been poisoned. I had mentioned spraying some Raid outside and wondered if he had touched it and then touched his eyes. So he was super freaked out, as was I. And then there was the fact that he was having trouble breathing and pretty much I couldn't see his eyeballs. I wish I would have taken a picture.
So at the climax of this all, he yelled out to call 911. So I did. And I could hardly communicate to the poor lady, I was so freaked out. When the paramedics got here, C told them his pain was about a 9 out of 10. I couldn't believe it.
So long story short, C had taken 2 benadryl immediately after he started reacting, and those pretty much probably saved his life. The ambulance came and checked him out and told him we needed to go to the hospital. They said he was definitely having an allergic reaction, probably to food...so he is being really careful about what he eats, and they gave us an "epi-pen" (shot of epinephrine) in case this happens again.
Then today, I'm going down the slide with my Noah, and he hits his poor little head on the side of the slide and slices his eyelid open. Blood and everything. Poor little thing. He really whacked it good. I managed to take a picture of that:
Poor little peach. :(
So too much drama for us in one weekend.
On a positive note--I started a painting class today and loved it. Just the type of relaxation I needed!
It's sure been a while! Since I last posted I believe Noah had a birthday, and we went to the beach? Perhaps not...but perhaps. Anyway, a few pics from the beach:
Noah's 2nd b'day, with his Thomas cake :)
Loving the cake :)
How come my blog list on the right side of my blog page is never correctly updated? It shows that the latest blog posted by friends was like 2 weeks ago, but then when I click on it, it shows one that was just posted, oh...TODAY. What gives?? Am I not doing something or doing something wrong?? ...anybody?
Noah said his first prayer tonight. I don't want to forget the contents! An hour after he had been put to bed, he was still rustling around, so I went in to check on him. I picked him up and he said, "Mama...take Cheesus" (talk to Jesus). I said, "Oh ok, let's talk to Jesus." Before I could even start, he started in: "Take you Cheesus Da-ee, eat, hot dogs, mama" That was all. Thank you Jesus for Daddy, eat, hot dogs, mama." The order of priority :)
So now, my prayer: Thank you Jesus for my precious little one, and that he knows he can talk to you any time, and that he can thank you for any and all things. We love you so very much, Jesus.
Oh I could just cry for the days that used to be....when Noah wanted me and only me to rock him to sleep...when I could lay him gently in his crib and be SURE that he would be there in almost the exact same spot in the morning, when big boy undies weren't anywhere in the future (know it sounds crazy).
Lots of things are happening in this household that I'm not quite ready for yet. First, the rocking at night. Although I think it's precious, and it warms my heart to see Noah cry and beg for daddy at night, I STILL WANT TO ROCK HIM TO SLEEP. I snuggle him, give him one million kisses, look at his face from 2 inches away, sing to him, tickle his back and his face, tell him I love him one million times, feel his little toes, smell his little baby boy breath...I do it all! I LOVE it. It is our time. It is my favorite time of the day. We talk to Jesus together and I enjoy hearing him say Jesus (sounds more like "Cheesis", but I know Jesus loves it, too--and I love THAT!). It is so precious to me, and I feel like it's slipping away. On the other hand, Christian BEAMS with pride. I could just cry describing it. He gets so proud when he just casually comes in to kiss Noah goodnight, and when he walks out, Noah immediately begins to cry. Hard. So of course, C comes right back in and takes him away. It really iiiisss precious for me to see, but it's hard to give my little man up.
Then, to make it worse, he fell out of his crib for the first time the other morning. That marked the end of the crib days. They are gone. We converted it into a toddler bed, and, this is how I found him the first morning (note--we have our monitor up SO LOUD. We can hear him breathing. We did not hear a PEEP out of the child all night. How he managed to do this, I don't know. Evidence leads me to believe that he was actually playing with the nearby toy. In complete silence!)
Anyway, this is what I found...Before I crept downstairs to get the camera, I lay down right behind him and snuggled in as close as I could, and proceeded to give the one million kisses I had missed out on the night before).
