and we successfully moved across the country again

i haven't posted anything here since the end of april! i just haven't been into blogging over these past few months - it must be a combination of moving across the country, pregnancy, being the primary caregiver for two small children, and i think i got tired of blogging, too. anyway, today i feel like posting, so i might as well do it.

let's see...well, we successfully moved across the country - our new home is in northern illinois. in mid-june, after a substantial interview process and many fraying nerves on our (mostly my) side of things, jeremy was offered a job at a "continuing care retirement community" here. there was a LOT of excitement and even some tears when that job offer came. we had nothing holding us back so we packed up and left our rental house in south carolina in TEN days.

the whole process was not for the faint of heart. whew! we packed, planned, and packed some more. our kids conveniently attended a VBS at love's preschool each morning that last week, so that gave us some kid-free time to really get things done. unfortunately, on the second to last day, another child bit jobot's arm (hard - he had a bite-shaped bruise for over a week!), so that soured his experience a bit. he still talks about how "that kid bit me mom". poor guy.

anyway, eventually somehow everything got packed and loaded (not thanks to the moving helpers we hired to load the truck - they did a terrible job). we even got to make a call to 911 just before loading the moving truck when jeremy disconnected our dryer and it caused a very significant gas leak, which we were unable to stop. two firetrucks came with sirens blaring and at least six firefighters jumped out in full gear. it was slightly embarrassing (as the neighbors came out of their houses to see what was going on!), but more humorous, and definitely a memory maker.

and finally, after a lot of stress and chaos, we were driving out of columbia for the last time - jeremy in the budget moving truck, and i in our minivan with the two kids.

we left south carolina on friday afternoon and arrived at our new, temporary home on monday afternoon. the drive was LONG. the unfortunate part was that both kids were throwing up throughout the entire drive, sometimes in the car. (fortunately, we had somehow kept our cleaning supplies accessible). at one point we were stopped in a parking lot while love stood in the parking lot and vomited into a bucket while i tried my best to clean her car seat, which was also covered in vomit.

it was also a challenge being pregnant, as i had to go to the bathroom more often than usual, and stopping for a potty break was not easy. i either had to take both kids into the bathroom with me or wait for jeremy to catch up with the moving truck so he could stay in the car with the kids while i ran into the restroom. i usually chose to wait for jeremy (he was often only 10 - 15 minutes behind me), but that was often very uncomfortable. ha! and then there was the day where we were unable to call each other on our cell phones because we were out in the middle of nowhere, so that didn't help.

i had a supply of activities for the kids to do, as well as several thrifted toys, but it was just a long, long trip with two little kids in the back seat. there were a lot of whining, tears, screaming, and demands from the back seat.

i was VERY relieved when we arrived here. the place where jeremy works has retirement homes and they have generously allowed us to live in one while we search for a place of our own. it made the move so much easier to have a place to live provided for us rather than having to search for a place to live from afar.

we have been living in this nice little house since the end of june. and when i say nice little house, i mean, a house that is really much too nice for our little family to live in. there is white carpet in the dining room (and through the whole house, except the kitchen), so that has been a bit nerve-wracking. also, the house is furnished which has been really nice (our stuff is all in storage), except the furniture is in pristine condition. also, this house only has two bedrooms, which has worked much better than expected, but has still been a challenge. we have been so grateful to live here, though.

in mid-july, we found a house to buy and if all goes as planned (which it seems like it will), we will be closing on friday and moving in on saturday. the whole story of how this all came to be is quite amazing and clearly God-led, even down to the little details.

it's been a strange summer of transition and we are so eager to settle into this place long-term. jeremy's job is going very well and he is really enjoying it and getting a lot of positive feedback. jeremy and i both really enjoy the demographic of the people who live here. the kids and i have gone visiting in the assisted living a couple of times here and it is so much fun to bring joy to the lives of the people who live there. when i was younger, i always dreamed of having little kids to bring around to visit the elderly, so in a funny way it feels like a dream come true for me too. it will be a lot of fun to have a teeny tiny baby to take visiting.

otherwise, we went to a church this last weekend that seemed like it just might be the right fit for us. we are starting to know our way around here pretty well as this is an easy city to navigate. we still feel like we spend a lot of time on the phone for various moving-related issues, but that should be calming down soon. moving is SO much work! we have found a few great parks and places to spend time together, and we also still have a lot to explore. and the best part of moving here is that my family is only a little over an hour away! we have spent several weekends at grandma's house this summer. when this job was a possibility, we didn't allow ourselves to get too excited about living so close, but now that it is for real, it is so nice. in many ways, it still feels like a dream to be this close to family. we do not take it for granted after all these years (especially this last one) of living farther away!

(fun at grandma's!)

i still don't really have any friends here, but i will be attending MOPS next month, and if we end up going to this church that we visited on Sunday, there will be a lot of opportunities to meet people. i haven't felt desperate to make friends as this has just all felt like a time of transition, but i am feeling very ready to start to find my place here. i have been keeping busy with getting ready to home school love for preschool this year. we are both excited about it, and obviously jobot will be a part of our little school as well. i have planned out the whole year (putting together curriculum, printing necessary documents, prepping art projects, and gathering supplies). i know that once baby gets here, everything will be more challenging, so at least i am prepared for the whole year of preschool.

anyway...hopefully there will be more updates on this blog in the future.

(30 weeks along. oh yeah, and it's a girl!)

surprise!

i don't know who still reads this blog, but i thought i should at least write a post to say...

baby #3 is on the way!

this is a surprise baby - ha! we were shocked to find out that i was pregnant and are still a bit shocked, all these weeks later. i am now 13 weeks along and due november 2.

i was really sick until about two weeks ago and am thankful to be feeling more like myself these days. it's all a bit overwhelming, and exciting, and more overwhelming and more exciting. i often think to myself, "THREE? and this close together? how?" but the reality is, many have done it before us and survived, and many have even had three at once, so we will be okay i think.

our house will just be louder, more chaotic, messier, and more joyful and full of life!

snow, and other stuff...

it's about time for a post on this blog.

the big news this week is that it snowed here! i was hoping it would snow while we lived here, and it did! i was most excited because love has been wishing for snow. she spent tuesday afternoon and evening peering out the windows to see if the snow had started to fall. it didn't start snowing until after she was asleep. i was so tempted to wake her up, but i resisted (that would have been a stupid move on my part). when she woke up on wednesday morning, the first thing she did was jump out of bed and look out the window. she was absolutely thrilled to see snow on the ground and was ready to head outside immediately.

we got about three inches i think. the bad part was that there was freezing rain before the snow, so the roads were slippery. of course, in a place that is not used to snow, this "storm" was a huge deal. it was all over the news and the city shut down about 8 hours before the storm even began. the big thing when there is snow is that people mob the stores to buy milk and bread. it was even reported in the news that stores had ordered extra deliveries of milk in preparation for the storm. unfortunately, it was too late to get extra orders of bread delivered, so i'm guessing some people had to tough it out being stuck in their houses for two days with no extra bread. i find this whole phenomenon hilarious and mind boggling. what in the world are people doing with all this extra milk? before the "storm" hit, we were low on milk, but there was no way i was going to the store to fight the mobs just to get a gallon of milk. i would rather live without for a couple of days. to me, the whole thing just shows how reliant our society is on grocery stores (a fact i already find sad anyway) and what consumers we are. also, how we are not used to being without things that we "need". anyway...enough of that soapbox. it's just funny.

even though love was ready to go outside immediately upon waking up, she waited patiently for breakfast to be made while lovingly gazing out the window at the snow. jeremy got to head into work a little later than usual, so we had a bit of a slower morning.

after he left, i began the process of bundling the kids up to go outside. whew! since we live in south carolina, we didn't have any snow boots for the kids to wear. we did have two pairs of rubber rain boots (one in love's current size, and one a size larger), so we used those. i layered up the socks and even put a pair of my wool socks on each kid. jobot was able to wear his slippers inside the boots, so his feet stayed nice and toasty. we did have winter coats, hats, and mittens for each kid. no snowpants, though, so both kids wore a pair of jobot's wind pants as well as two other pairs of pants underneath. the wind pants were a little short on love, but they worked.

once the kids and i were dressed in our hodgepodge of winter gear, we headed outside for some fun in the snow. as soon as we got outside, both kids immediately started eating the snow. and ate, and ate, and ate. it was so funny! love and i made some "train tracks" in the snow in the front yard and puffed along the "rails" for a while, taking turns calling out "faster" and "slower" and adjusting our speed accordingly. love was most fascinated by the (tiny) icicles hanging off of our roof and i found myself using a pool noodle to get some down so we could collect them in a bucket.

by that point, jobot had stopped eating the snow and was back to trying to do his usual outdoor activity - using a little shovel to scoop up dirt and put it in his wagon. he was quite perturbed that there was snow in the way and became quite crabby. i tried to convince him to scoop up the snow and put it in the wagon, but i was unsuccessful. he cried a lot and did not have much fun.

after about 45 minutes we came inside (picture me walking toward the house with two crying kids - jobot repeatedly falling down in the snow - as a couple walked by with their dog and found it all quite amusing) and the kids had hot chocolate and snacks. our neighbor brought over some warm muffins and sat and visited for a while, and another neighbor took me up on my offer to watch their six-month-old baby while he took his older child sledding. we had a house full of kids and neighbors for a bit there and it was fun - it felt homey and neighborly and warm and cozy.

surprisingly, there is still a bit of snow on the ground today, but i think this is probably the last we will see of snow for a while. it's supposed to be in the mid-60s tomorrow, so the snow will definitely be gone by then.

in other news...these kids are both at fun stages right now.

jobot is at one of my favorite stages. he is twenty months and his vocabulary grows every day. he is so proud to try out new words. the other day i asked him a question and was shocked when he responded with, "no thank you mommy". when asked a question, he has also started responding with "hmmm...huh....mmmm..." jobot wants to eat all. the. time. the first word out of his mouth every morning is "EAT!" this morning we had pancakes for breakfast and he ate FIVE of them. he had a doctor's appointment on monday and once again he was off the charts for height and weight. the pediatrician said that he is proportional and that if he keeps this rate on the charts, he will probably be about 6 ft 4 in, which is how tall jeremy is. love and i are going to be surrounded by tall men.

he is a loud and busy boy. he makes anything into a hammer and goes around "fixing" things in the house. he is very interested in music, so i have been making an effort to play more classical music in our house during the day. it's nice for everyone. i have even seen him look at a page in a book that has pictures of instruments and start swaying like he is listening to music. i am curious to see if anything will become of this music interest. he got a tambourine/drum for christmas and it's one of his favorite toys. he has started singing and jeremy and i were shocked one day in december when we were listening to christmas music and he actually started singing along to "ave maria"!

he currently spends his days throwing toys and stuffed animals in his crib so they can go "nigh-night". he constantly asks for bandaids, even when he doesn't really need one. due to his daring nature, he does bleed several times a week, so i guess that all makes sense. he wears his bandaids with pride. he also wants to take baths all the time - he walks around the house saying "ba-ub" (bathtub) and looking at us with hopeful eyes. the other day jeremy started a bubble bath and jobot was so excited that he dove right in, clothes and all!

love is also at such a fun stage these days. in many ways, it's a challenging and dramatic stage, but she is becoming such a lovely young girl. when i drop her off for preschool, we almost always talk about being kind to other kids, and she says, "i am a kind girl, mommy". and she is, too. we have had several playdates lately where i have seen her being kind to others, without any prompting from me. it makes me so proud of her. although she and jobot fight (even the classic both kids pulling on the same toy screaming because they both want it), she has many moments of being a kind and caring big sister. there is a boy in her class who has some special needs and behavioral issues, and i am so proud that love is the one the teachers have seated next to him at the table. i have been so pleased to see her interact with him and be so loving and encouraging. makes my heart want to burst with love and pride for her!

we had some free movie tickets and i recently took her to the movies for the first time to see "frozen". she was so excited and sat on my lap the whole time. it's so fun that she is getting old enough to do those kinds of things.

just after christmas we (finally) moved love from a crib to a bed (our guest bed). this involved switching the kids rooms and rearranging a bit. it has made our house more functional and has worked really well. love was so ready to make the transition that it has gone smoothly for all of us.

she currently asks multiple times a day, "mommy, tell me a story about when somebody got hurt." we share stories of our childhood injuries (most involve falling off of bikes!) and she is fascinated by these stories and wants to hear them again and again. if the story we tell isn't interesting enough, she lets us know that she would like to hear a different one. ha! so, a lot of our life seems to revolve around injuries these days...either jobot is getting hurt, or we are telling stories about people getting hurt.

she is also really into playing with her train set these days. for some funny reason, her favorite character is "diesel 10". she often says "no mommy, i'm not karis. i'm diesel 10." she pretends that she is him and "chuffs" around the house using her "wheels" to get around. she recently used some of her christmas money to buy a wooden diesel 10 to add to our train collection.

love is very particular and orderly and recently made a block border for our living room rug (see photo below). she often heads to her room saying that she is going to "organize sometheen". jobot, on the other hand, is quite the opposite, which causes some tension in our home as he undoes whatever organization love has set into place.

also...that slide has taken up residence in the middle of our living room. it was a christmas gift and the kids love it and play with it every single day. for the first week or two after we got it, we had to put a blanket on the slide and give it a good night kiss at the end of the day or jobot would throw a tantrum because he had to stop playing with it.

these days are full and busy, but in many ways, it feels like we are currently in a good stage as a family. these kids bring us lots of joy and humor and we have so much fun watching them grow.

funny

from the other day...

love - "mommy, did you know that guinea pigs hatch from eggs?"

me - "actually, guinea pigs don't hatch from eggs. they come out of their mommies tummies."

love - "mommy? i wish you could have a guinea pig in your tummy and it could pop out."

lo, how a rose e'er blooming

i am wrapping teacher gifts,
christmas music in the background.
little boy is at my feet, climbing, grabbing, into everything.
my patience is wearing thin.

and then a song - "lo, how a rose e'er blooming".
grief washes over me.
my dad loved that song.

a lump in my throat, and then tears,
as the boy climbs and grabs things off the table.
the boy he never got to meet.

three years later and it still hurts.
the ache grows and deepens as more days pass without him.
my dad, safe with Jesus.
us here, missing him.

december so far

i've been really feeling like i can't keep up with life lately. it's been frustrating. and then today it hit me...in the past month i have taken jobot to six doctor appointments (the sixth one was this morning), spent a good part of two days in the ER with him, stayed at the hospital for two days, gone on a six day cross country road trip, and tried to keep up with laundry, housekeeping, parenting, and general tasks of caring for our family in the midst of all of it.

that realization made me feel a little better at least. there's been a lot going on.

but, i have managed to put up some christmas decorations, and even make some new ones, so at least there's that.

the little houses are made of paper. last year, i got a little kit to make them on clearance after christmas. i stashed it with our christmas decorations and forgot all about it. what a fun surprise to find! putting them together and decorating them has been an enjoyable little project. also, i really like having a mantle.

 our tree has been toppled over three times and counting. we started with several unbreakable ornaments on the tree. well...several of the "unbreakable" ornaments have been broken (including charlie brown, who was unfortunately beheaded by our little one year old), and ornaments were being removed by little hands faster than they could be put back on, scattered all over the house, and stepped on...so we are going with a mostly ornamentless tree this year. there are a few (tacky) plastic ornaments up at the top of the tree. the christmas tree is not a battle i am willing to have with the kids...so we make due with our little three-foot artificial one for now and they touch it and play with it all they want.

 we even already had a christmas themed family movie night with pizza in the living room.

and we have been enjoying our christmas present to ourselves - a portable fire pit! we have wanted one for years and found a great black friday sale on one (although we bought it on monday, and i think it's the only thing i have ever bought on a black friday sale...i am not a fan of that shopping day). we tried it out the other night and it was so much fun! a little chaotic with the kiddos, but they enjoyed it, the weather was perfect, and our neighbor even came over and sat around the fire with us for a bit. looking forward to more fun times with the fire!

 oh, and we also put a few christmas lights on our house...how could we not with such a cute little house to decorate?

love had her first french braid. brought me back to the days of braiding my american girl doll's hair...except the doll sat still, love did not.

 there were about ten fun minutes when love and i crafted together post rest time the other day. it didn't last long, but it gave me a glimpse of future times of creating together.

 

 

there has been lots of dress up these days (two little princesses around here)!

and then there was yesterday when we were playing dress up. a few minutes after the fedex delivery guy left i realized that i had answered the door with this antenna hat on my head. ha!

mostly about jobot being sick...because he's been sick a lot

i haven't been here for awhile. life has been busy and full.

there was a visit from my mom, complete with a fun overnight trip to the charlotte, nc area.

then a day trip at the north carolina zoo where we met up with my college friend, natalia and her lovely family (hi natalia!). we hadn't seen each other in years and had never met each others' husbands or children. it was an enjoyable day of catching up, reconnecting, and picking up right where we left off.

then jeremy's dad arrived for a visit. we did a two-night overnight to atlanta, ga and had a great time. he stayed through halloween.

and then there were the last two weeks, where jobot made his second and third trips to the emergency room and was finally admitted to the hospital for two nights. it was a mini-crisis in our lives, one that we are thankful to have in the past now.

it all started a little over two weeks ago. jeremy was working all night, so i was home alone with the kids. jobot had been dealing with a mild cold all week, but that night he woke in the middle of the night (a rare occurrence for him) and was wheezing and breathing fast. i sat with him for awhile and he finally went back to sleep for about an hour, but was up for the day at 5:30. he was feeling uncomfortable and walking around the house crying...very much not like himself. i was concerned because he was using accessory muscles to breathe and retracting (sometimes it comes in handy to be an RN and a mom). i tried calling our doctor's office when they opened for weekend hours, but since we were new patients and had not yet been in to see a doctor, they couldn't do anything to help on the weekend.

we picked jeremy up when he was done working in the morning and headed to the ER. turns out our little man had RSV and an ear infection. five hours, a few breathing treatments, an inhaler, and a prescription for antibiotics later we were back home with a much happier baby.

we headed to our doctor's office on thursday for a follow-up. it was our first time there and our new pediatrician wasn't available, so we saw someone else. he said that everything looked good and jobot was having a good recovery.

then came sunday night. jobot was restless and woke up repeatedly. on monday morning i noticed that he had a few spots on his legs, but there weren't very many and i wasn't sure if it was a rash or bug bites. he played happily all morning. around noon he developed a fever of 101.5 and became very lethargic. i changed his diaper and realized that he definitely had a rash. he just wanted to be held and i actually put him in the baby carrier (he still fits!) while i got lunch ready. he fell asleep. i called our doctor's office and left a message on the nurse triage line. two hours later i still had not heard back from the doctor's office (!), so i called the front desk and let them know i was still waiting for a return call. they said a nurse would call me back shortly. jobot was napping on me and just wanted to be held and had a fever of 103. an hour later i finally spoke with a nurse who said that she needed to talk to the doctor and would call me back after she did so. an hour later (this is FOUR hours after my initial call) she called me back to say that the doctor would like to see jobot, but it would be fine to wait until tomorrow and that i would have to call when they opened in the morning to get an appointment time. i was not happy.

after we picked jeremy up at work we stopped at the store to get some more baby tylenol. i was feeling so badly for jobot that i bought him a little toy ambulance that lights up and makes several different noises just to cheer him up. and of course, love had to get a little toy too...she chose a little excavator that lights up and makes noises. this is totally not normal...me buying the kids toys on a whim! much less, toys that make noise and light up!?! jeremy laughed at me, and now i can laugh at myself. i was so desperate to see some smiles from the little guy. (it worked too, by the way).

monday night jobot seemed very uncomfortable and not like himself and the rash had gotten worse. this did not just seem like a normal rash and jeremy and i were both feeling anxious about waiting until the next day to see a doctor. finally, we decided to just take him in to the ER to at least ease our minds. i took him in. our hospital has a special children's ER and it was packed with people...including several kids who were vomiting in the waiting room. ew. once the vomiting began i was seriously debating just leaving, but then jobot's name was called and we got out of the waiting room.

we finally saw a doctor who said that he didn't exactly know what was going on but it was a skin rash and could possibly be a reaction to the antibiotics jobot was on for his ear infection. i doubted that, but we stopped the anitbiotics (he only had one day left anyway).

jobot was up on and off all night. he was so uncomfortable and irritable. we both felt so bad for him, but we were also exhausted. i called our doctor's office on tuesday morning and got an appointment for 2 pm. it felt like forever away! he wouldn't eat or drink and was walking around pointing at his mouth and crying. i finally looked in his mouth and saw that the rash was in his mouth and throat.

finally the appointment came and we got in to see our new pediatrician. at this point, i wasn't having the best feelings towards our pediatrician's office after waiting so long for a call back on monday. i was eager to meet our pediatrician so that i could decide if we wanted to stay with that practice or go somewhere else.

she walked in the room and i knew immediately that i liked her. she took one look at jobot and became very concerned. she said that she thought he had something called "eczema herpeticum"...a rare and severe skin infection that people with eczema can get. she said she wanted us to go right to a dermatologist to get a second opinion and that she would likely be putting jobot in the hospital for a day or two. at this point, i was relieved to have someone else taking this seriously because we knew that it wasn't just a simple rash. however, seeing how concerned she was made me feel anxious too!

jeremy's work day was almost over and i called him and asked if he could leave early to come with us. we picked him up and headed straight to the dermatologist. as soon as the dermatologist walked in, i got a bad feeling. she had quite an attitude and acted as if we were the most annoying thing she had encountered that day. she glanced at jobot, didn't really listen to what we had to say, and announced that he had fever blisters and eczema. she started rattling off a list of things she was going to prescribe...diluted bleach baths (what?!?!), creams and ointments, etc... i tried to ask questions..."really? fever blisters from a fever of 103?" and "what are we supposed to do about the fact that he isn't eating or drinking?" dermatologist lady was dismissive and rude and finally...tactful but assertive and annoyed mama bear came out. "i'm sorry, but are we inconveniencing you? you seem like you are annoyed that we are here. this is our child you are talking about and all these things that you are prescribing are not what he needs. you are dismissing us. this is something serious and we are only here to find out if you think that he has what our pediatrician thinks he has." cue my voice rising. "and seriously...what are we supposed to do about him not eating and drinking?" it went on. i asked her to please call our pediatrician and let me speak to her. she left the room to call and then i cried.

she called our pediatrician and talked with her...yes, she agreed that he had eczema herpeticum. then i talked with our doctor who said that we needed to take jobot to the children's hospital where he would be admitted. we stopped at home to grab a few things and headed to the hospital. once we were at the hospital, we were so relieved to have jobot being cared for by professionals who knew what they were doing, so we felt less anxious.

they placed an IV (they did great, but it was still terrible to watch!) and started him on fluids and IV antiviral medication. they weren't 100% sure what he had and two different doctors took photos of his rash to send to their doctor friends to see what they thought he had. (in the end it turned out that he did have eczema herpeticum.) the floor he was on in the hospital was actually one that jeremy worked on over the summer, so he knew some of the staff.

our hospital stay went as well as could be expected and we are thankful for that. the children's hospital here is really nice and only two miles from our house. we were blessed with kind and attentive caregivers, and friends who brought us food and coffee and watched love while we were at the hospital. i stayed with jobot the whole time and jeremy and love spent time with us as well. jeremy was super husband and tried to keep up with things at home in the midst of everything else...doing laundry and caring for love. our kids missed each other so much, it was actually quite adorable. love cried when we told her that jobot was going to have to stay at the hospital. one of my favorite moments of all time was on wednesday afternoon when jeremy brought love to the hospital. i was pulling jobot around the halls in a wagon and love and jeremy turned the corner and the kids saw each other. both squealed with delight and yelled each other's names. love ran over to the wagon and they just looked at each other and giggled. they were SO happy to be reunited and it melted our hearts. at one point, love even announced that when jobot got to come home, she was going to let him play with all of her toys (that didn't happen, but it was a nice thought anyway - ha!).

i think that every single person who cared for jobot commented on what a cute little man he is and how cooperative he was. he was a great little patient - even leaving his IV in the entire time we were there! he was visited by a great dane and given a teddy bear and several other little gifts. i think we set a record for the number of pastors and chaplains who visited us in such a short stay - we counted 11 of them - a steady stream of chaplains (8 total - jeremy's coworkers), and 3 pastors from two different churches. a few of them even visited twice and our doctor joined us for a little prayer time one morning. we were well cared for and prayed for and are so thankful for such caring people, especially living in a new place. having that community around us made all of this so much less scary.

hurray - eating a popsicle!

by wednesday morning jobot seemed to be feeling better and even ate a little. and by thursday morning we were happy to see that he was back to himself (though his rash still looked terrible!). we quickly learned that it is not easy to manage an active one year old who is clueless that he is attached to an IV pole. the doctor asked us if we like hospital food or if we wanted to head home that day - you can bet we jumped at the chance to get out of there! more than getting away from the hospital food, i was eager to sleep in my own bed without nurses waking me up, IVs beeping all night, and voices yelling "can i help you?" out of the speaker when i pushed the nurse call button.

waiting to go home!

we came home from the hospital on thursday evening and i was so exhausted i could hardly think straight. i hadn't felt that tired in the hospital, but once we were going home i got a pounding headache and was so, so tired. our house was a disaster until sometime yesterday, when i finally got things somewhat back in order.

jobot's rash on thursday night after we came home from the hospital - yikes!

on friday we followed up with our pediatrician who said everything looks great. we will go back to see her again in about a week. i am so thankful that she took this seriously, realized what it was, and got jobot the care he needed. it wasn't the ideal circumstances for meeting a new pediatrician, so i'm so thankful that we got a good one.

and of course, we are most thankful for jobot's recovery and his precious little self. we are thankful to God for putting him in our family and for bringing healing to his body. this illness was a good reminder that these children are not ours, but they belong to God.

to quote from the heidelberg catechism, which echoes our hope and prayer for their lives...

"they belong, body and soul, in life and death to their faithful savior Jesus Christ...he has fully paid for all their sins with his precious blood and has set them free from the tyranny of the devil. he watches over them in such a way that not a hair can fall from their head without the will of their Father in heaven. in fact, all things must work together for their salvation. because they belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures them of eternal life and makes them wholeheartedly willing and ready to live for Him."

that is our prayer for these precious children of ours.

we have much to be thankful for this thanksgiving!