Surprises, Sinuses, Smashes

So yesterday I was at school, teaching my 10 three year olds, and in walks the secretary of our church with a vase full of flowers. And, totally naively, I say, "WOW! who are those for?!?!" And she says...YOU!

Now flowers are not a new thing for me. Paul gives me flowers at least twice a month. So the idea of flowers was not new, but getting them at work...that was new! Then I opened the card and this was what was on it...

"Be dressed up and ready to go at 5:30. The car will pick you up.
P.S. The kids are totally taken care of."

I was like, awesome. What car? So then Paul comes in and tells me that the kids are taken care of from the time school was out until we got home. So I got to go home after school and TAKE A NAP. Can I just say that again...TAKE A NAP! Yes people. That was PART OF THE DATE! He worked in a nap for our date. Can I just say...probably the most brilliant move he made! On top of that he picked me up in our car, he rang the doorbell and everything...I almost didn't know what to do with that. It's been a long time since I've been on that kind of a date. So anyway...we went to Landry's on the river and then walked around for a while and then had some Ben and Jerry's and...it.was.awesome.

So on to the sinuses...I cannot stand cedar. That's right. cedar. It comes in like a roaring lion, stops up your head and then you can't breathe or talk. All you do is cough and sneeze, but nothing comes out because it's all stopped up and it's just terrible.

NOW...the smashes part of my tale.

Tonight we came home from church and as we were getting out of the car and I looked through my driver's side window through the car out the passenger side window and I see a look of sheer pain on Jacob's face and he starts screaming...his pinky finger has just been slammed in the door. yep. So he gets the door open and his finger out and we get into the house and get an ice pack. Paul and I are looking at his finger and he is sobbing and sobbing. As we are trying to get a handle on the situation, Jacob looks up from his crying and in great anguish he yells at the top of his lungs...PRAY! I knew what he said, I mean I knew the word that came out of his mouth, but I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by it, so I asked him, "What did you say?" And again he yelled, "PRAY!" So immediately me, Paul, Caleb and Abby started praying for his finger. By this point I am now crying. This was big to him and he knew exactly where to turn. Each one of us prayed, but that was not enough for him. He then asked me to call Mrs. Phyllis (a lady from our church), Mrs. Magan (my best friend) and Nana (my mom). So I called/texted them and they are all praying for him. It was so refreshing for Paul and I.

God is not bothered or annoyed with smashed fingers because He has more "important things to do." He totally delights in His children calling on Him for ANYTHING.

Praise be to God for being totally approachable with the little things.

UPDATE....

And to add to the below post...

We found out tonight that our beloved cat Caroline has an abcess and now has to have some surgery tomorrow. Please pray for Abby. She is sad that Caroline is "sick" and she doesn't quite know what it all means. Caroline should be just fine. She just needs to have her abcess drained and then be on some antibiotics. Hopefully everything else will be fine. A vet at our church has set everything up for us so that is a blessing.

Rolling with the Punches this week...

This week my punches include but are not limited too...

Last Thursday - My grandmother who lives with my parents falls and goes to the hospital for three days

Last Friday - My mom changes plans and does not come to help with the kids for Paul's surgery

Monday - Don't get to work out...Paul's surgery at 8 AM! Five hours in a waiting room. Yippee. Don't sleep because Paul doesn't sleep.

Tuesday - Don't get to work out...Teach school and deal with kiddos and Paul. Don't sleep because Paul doesn't sleep.

Wednesday - Don't get to work out...Go to Bible study and Paul calls me to come home right away and take him to the Urgent Care Center for severe side pain...spend 4 hours in the Urgent Care Center running tests...finally come up with kidney stones...get sent to Imaging center for a CT scan...confirms kidney stones...Sleep well...go figure.

Thursday - Don't get to work out...teach school that I am totally unprepared for because of said above items. Have a Valentine's party at school, Caleb has a fever and goes home to Paul who still has kidney stones. Abby goes to gymnastics, Caleb supposed to go to gymnastics but went home with a fever...that he doesn't have any more and is now bouncing off the walls...Jacob to basketball practice. Sleep good, not great...afraid I'm going to be awakened by screams of agonizing pain from Paul...nope.

Friday - Get Starbucks, go to Jacob's school to work in work room and host Valentine's party. Forget to finish First Grade project while I'm there, have to go back next week...dang it. Come home exhausted. Paul still has kidney stone. Surprises me and my friend with a crop night at new scrapbook store! Leave at 3:30 and get back home at midnight:30. Little sleep.

Saturday - Show Paul my pages, look at the clock for the last time at 1:11 am. Wake up at 7:40...Paul late for working concession stand at Upwards Basketball. Me typing right now. 9:41... Day 3 of Kidney Stone Watch '09...still nothing. 5pm today to midnight...Parent's Night Out Fundraiser. Little sleep again (I'm predicting the future).

Sunday - Going to be super tired...again I'm predicting the future. church...and all that comes with it. Awana's and all that comes with it.

Monday - PRESIDENT'S DAY! NO SCHOOL! HOPE TO WORK OUT! Paul's stitches out at 9am and then a day of family fun. Sleep. I'll let you know about Kidney Stone Watch '09!

But mommy, I can still whistle.

So Saturday was kind of a relaxing day. Jacob had a basketball game early and then we were home for the rest of the day...a total rarity around here as you may know. Anyway.

I did some scrapbooking and quickly learned that I needed to go spend an hour or four at Hobby Lobby selecting the paper I needed. So I decided that I would just totally relax and watch some tv.

Paul ran over to the church to check on some things and Abby tagged along. The boys were very nicely playing a game of T-ball. This is a new thing that they are into. They have worked out the perfect balance of hitting, catching and scoring for two people playing.

I had just gotten really comfortable and then I heard it...

The scream...

The kind that says to a mom, "I need to hurry! This is for real!"

So I start walked, rather fast, to the back door and I was mentally preparing myself for any number of injuries. I knew the boys were playing t-ball so I was thinking, something involving the bat...hmmm. I knew the scream was from Caleb and I haven't heard him take a breath yet, so this is going to be bad. I was prepared for large amounts of blood, unusually large knots, and, of course...missing teeth.

I get outside and I see Jacob hugging Caleb and Jacob is crying too. He said, "Mommy I am so sorry, it was an accident, he just walked in my way!" I told Jacob he was not in trouble and that everything would be ok.

This is the point that I get my first glimpse of Caleb. He is bleeding from the mouth and has the BIGGEST, FATTEST lip I have ever seen! His top lip was busted and it was so swollen that it drooped down below his bottom lip. I couldn't even look at his teeth because his lip was so swollen. So we got an ice pack and held that on his lip for a while. After about 20 or 30 minutes the swelling was finally down enough for me to see his teeth and praise the Lord all his teeth were in the right place and not loose. How exactly...I'm not sure...literally a miracle.

So I loved on Caleb for a long time and I tried to make a fat lip as cool as possible. He was very concerned that people would laugh at him. So I made the fat lip cool and finally after a couple of hours of feeling sorry for himself he comes running into the living room and jumps in my lap and says,

"Mommy, listen, at least I can still whistle!"

His fat lip makes a perfect little aperture to whistle through! I said, " Well Hallelujah!"

And that was the end of feeling sorry for himself, because, after all, he can still whistle.