Blessings of colds

First, I crack myself up. Sometimes it's hard to see blessings when you seem to be endlessly sick. We've been down with colds for a good while now. Starts with one and gets passed to another. Been stuck inside the house for a bit due to cold weather. I've been the nurse with the basket of meds, attending to each kid constantly. We also had fevers for one day, nothing too horrible, but kids with warm heads and sleepy bodies. Helped the fevers go down and went back to nursing the colds. 

Blessings from all this:

Shaun was home when I was the sickest and felt like a zombie. He kept washing the dishes, giving us meds, and had the super power of not getting sick. My hero:)

There were times when Kevin and I would be snuggled in my bed together, watching Downton Abbey on the iPad. Good times. 

Brooke thankfully never got the cold as hard as the boys did. She still wants to strip her clothes off all the time. Stinker.

We've enjoyed puzzles immensely this week. I love wooden puzzles. 

Grateful that I bought an essential oil diffuser before we moved. It's been in use heavily. 

Asked questions on FB, and learned some great things. How to give herbal tinctures more effectively. Learned of a new essential oil company called Butterfly Express. Very affordable. Also, learned again about making garlic oil and using it for Ethan's earache. Took care of the problem quickly. 

Heard two of my friend's beautiful and comforting voices on the phone. Blessed phone calls. 

Warm beds and water bottles to drink from. A hot shower. 

Crockpot to make salsa chicken when I had no will to stand in kitchen for a bit to cook. 

Pandora stations Hilary Weeks and Steven Sharp Nelson. 

Playing the YouTube clip of the Frozen song 'Let it Go' for the kids, and singing any harmonies I can hear for it. Fun. 

These are the blessings from having a cold that lasts awhile:)

Sunshine

We discovered the Ridgefield Fairgrounds park. Lovely park on top of the world with an amazing view. The sun doesn't come out as much in the winter here. It's been a tad challenging to adjust to, to be honest. When the sun comes out, we drop everything and get outside. I'm grateful for this park, and the kind people there that played with the boys. 

So much green and trees! It's another planet up here. Isn't this picture amazing? It's a small glimpse of what we see daily. We're still trying to adjust, but we are keeping busy. Shaun met with an advisor at the college, and got a clear road map for nursing school. Two years of pre reqs, and then two years of full time nursing school. It seems so very long to me. I can't think of it sometimes, but hopefully, it will go by fast. Doesn't it always seem that something you want to reach so badly seems like an eternity away?

 So many other families have done the school route with kids, and we will be entering that path soon. I have so much respect for those who have done full time school with kids, and reached graduation. I'm a little scared of how to balance everything; giving the kids more attention than ever, Shaun being able to study and still spend time with the kids, not seeing Shaun as much, and more. I guess I will learn my best when it starts this year. Big chapter.

Great parenting quote

A wonderful friend gave me a great idea. She told me of this quote that she has printed out and hanging on the wall by her bed. Each day she reads it, and it gives her great comfort. I printed it out for me, and now read it often. Great peace and comfort.

“You are doing God's work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you, and He will bless you, --even--no, -especially--when your days and your nights may be most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master's garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and weep over their responsibility as mothers, `Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.' And it will make your children whole as well.” 
― Jeffrey R. Holland


From Elder Holland, the big guns, of course. He gives such great talks. Hope this idea and quote helps someone out there. 

Good day

We had a good day this week, actually, two good days going on three in a row. After many storms of struggling in parenting, the storm went away for a bit. We prayed, searched general conference talks, and worked hard and lovingly with Ethan this week. The past three days have been wonderful. Here, we were having a good homeschool day working on writing. I used a pinterest idea of 'rainbow writing', having them trace their names with many colors over and over again. It was fun, it helped them write better than ever, and the kids didn't fight. Glorious! Brooke was enjoying some board games, which gave me a chance to work with the boys. 

Huge fan of the twisty crayons! No breaking. 

I took Ethan on a date. We rode bikes down to the store close by. He's gone a few times before with Shaun. As we were riding, he told me the specific directions to get there. I told him that I was glad I was with him so I would't get lost. He sounded so grown up it amazed me. He wanted to practice counting the soup cans as high as he could go. More learning. Easy math. I love it! 

Then, the best story ever. Things have been stressful and nerve wracking as we have been searching for employment for Shaun. You all know how that is. Job hunting, oi. Well, we paid what little tithing we had, sent in tons of resumes, and were blessed with two job interviews this week. We did our dardnest to exercise faith. We prayed specifically "Please help us get a job this week.", thinking not at the end of the month and not next month. We need a job this week, and we believed that it would happen. 

The day after an interview, Shaun got a call that made us all cry with joy. Ethan was with us while the kids were napping. I jumped off the bed, and said 'Everyone get on your knees now! We're praying.' We said a prayer of thanks. The sun literally came out of the fog while we prayed, and disappeared a little bit afterwards. I cracked up over that. 

We took that leap of faith, tried to be brave, and our prayers were answered. Good day.