Wrestling on the floor with dada

Finally....some photos

Nothing profound to say today...it's a rainy day and we've been flying the "plague" flag outside our house for yet another week. Poor Ben...just can't seem to get healthy. I think we're out of the woods now and we're praying for health. So for a rainy day, here are some pictures to liven up the morning.

I'll label this series "Like Father.....Like Son"

Don't worry......empty can

March Madness in our house

This series..."Like Mother....Like Son"

The Bitter and the Sweet

At our wedding, Brian and I borrowed something from the Jewish tradition called "the Bitter and the Sweet." We both drank from a glass of bitter (looked like wine but was actually 100% cranberry juice with no sweetner....blech) and a glass of sweet (white fruit wine). It symbolized our awareness of what lay ahead of us in life....bitter and sweet.....and a willingness to face it together. I had both bitter and sweet moments over the weekend. I realize that happens on a daily basis...bitter moment of a bad email from work but the sweetness of a phone call from a long lost friend. The bitterness of remembering a loved one who has passed away but also having the sweetness of remembering fondly the times you had together. The bitterness of changing yet another dirty diaper from your poor sick child but the sweetness of extra cuddles and the smell of cleanly bathed baby. Sunday morning was sweet. In our church, we all come forward for the Lord's Supper and gather together in a circle around the table. We sing the words "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord." As I played, I looked around the circle of faces and felt an overwhelming gratitude for God's goodness and saw clear evidences of his mercy all around me. I saw the family of God gathered together from many different backgrounds, all united in our faith in the Lord. I saw a father, home from Afghanistan with his arm around his son. I saw family members who were in town having celebrated a wedding the night before of two beautiful people. I saw the faces of two dear friends from Michigan who I wish I could see more often. I was struck in that moment by the goodness of the Lord. It was one of those moments that I wish could be captured on camera and kept in an album by my bedside table. So when things aren't going well- when I'm exhausted and frustrated with life, I could look at that picture and remember that feeling of "rightness." Less than 6 hours later I was forced to face the bitterness that this world so cruelly shells out to people. The bitterness of illness and disease- of broken relationships - of immense pain and suffering. None of which seemed fair. In the morning worship service at church, my pastor preached on Jesus' words from the cross "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" and we used the words of Psalm 22 to corporately lament the hardships this life can bring. On the cross, Jesus identified with us in our earthly sufferings, experienced our pain and himself lamented and asked God why he was allowing his suffering to continue. All in one day- I found myself lamenting and tasting the bitter but also remembering Jesus' great sacrifice that allows for sweetness- a day to come when all will be as it should be.

Flu Blues

I'd like to say that our household runs like a well oiled machine but unfortunately it is more like a pieced together, 20 year old Honda. It runs fine as long as everything stays the same, but as soon as one thing goes wrong, the whole thing falls to pieces and we are duct taping ourselves into survival mode. On any given day we can juggle grad school (both of us), full time work, being homeowners, marriage, 17 month old, neurotic dog, etc. but when one thing goes wrong it seems like we are suddenly get overwhelmed and the act is over. Well....that one thing that went wrong this week was a nasty flu bug that began already last weekend. To sum up our week.... Sunday- Ben was cranky and "fragile." He is such a happy kid so crying for no reason and throwing fits at us is uncharacteristic. We knew something was around the river bend. He also had a runny nose and what looked like the start of a cold. Monday- Ben had a rough start to the night on Sunday night, waking up several times wanting to be held and was really clingy. He finally went to sleep and I thought we were good to go. Walked into the nursery on Monday morning and before I even opened the door I smelled the awful odor of spilled stomach contents all in the crib and all over the floor. Let's just say- Monday was spent doing lots of laundry and my carpet cleaner was put to good use. Tuesday- Late Monday night Ben got a fever. At 3:00 a.m. we went into his nursery and the fever was up to 103 and Ben was shivering and his heart was racing. Scary. We managed to get the fever down and survive the night but all day Tuesday was spent dealing with fever. At one point in time during the day he cried for an hour straight...just screaming and screaming. Took him to the pediatrician and they said it must be some kind of flu and he also had double ear infections. Way to go tubes......way to work. Wednesday- Finally on the mend. Had a pretty normal day at home without too much fussiness and no unfortunate incidents. Thursday- I had barely gotten any work done in the week so Ben went to daycare and he seemed to be feeling fine. Daycare was a ghost town. All 3 of his teachers were out sick and all but 1 in his classroom were out sick. Most had been out all week with the exact same thing. Whatever this plague is, it spread and pretty much knocked out his school. They said he had a good day and he was in good spirit when Brian picked him up. He hadn't been eating much besides crackers, toast etc but devoured a bowl of peas for dinner. Unfortunately the peas reappeared shortly there after. Friday- Home today and we're doing ok all things considered. Ben seems healthy but we're laying low. Brian called saying he wasn't feeling too hot- but neither of us have all week so i'm not surprised. I've spent the week pretty much banking on the fact that we'll get sick. So far- so good and praying it continues. So there's our week in a nutshell. Explains the absence of blogs until today. Normally- we juggle and do fine. This week we're juggling with 40 pound medicine balls and keep getting clobbered. Hoping for better days.