He watches over us.

“God does watch over us and does notice us, but it usually through someone else that he meets our needs.”  -Spencer W. Kimball

I never thought we would get to this point.  The house is almost empty.  And officially no longer ours.  After almost six years of living here we are about to move on to the next chapter.  Hopefully.  Still no word on the short sale...

The last few weeks have been peppered with a series of small trials.  Of course I know that in the grand scheme of things my daily difficulties are not even blips on the radar, but sometimes when they build up on top of each other they can get a little overwhelming, to say the least.

I was supposed to run a marathon on May 18th.  I had spent months training--getting up at 4 am every Saturday to have time to get my long run in.  I was very excited to meet up with some friends and do something that I never thought I would be able to do.  And then I got injured.  And then I got sick.  And then my kids got sick.  And then I fell while on a bike ride and majorly bruised my knee.  But I was still going to go.  I was all packed and ready.  The afternoon before I was supposed to leave, the kids were still pretty sick.  Chloe started begging me to take her to the doctor, so we went in.  I actually took Lincoln with me as more of an afterthought.  That kid has a cough every other day, so I tend to get used to it.  Thank goodness I took him in.   As soon as they read the pulse-ox meter on Lincoln's finger chaos erupted.  I've been through the drill before.  His oxygen levels were way too low.  They put him on a portable oxygen tank and told us to get ourselves to the ER ASAP.  When  about 5 hours, they decided to admit him, I realized that I probably wasn't going to make my 7 am flight.  I was disappointed, but there was NO WAY I was going to leave my baby in the hospital, no matter how many months of training I had put in.

Lincoln came home late the next afternoon.  We were both exhausted and I was somewhat emotional, but I was also just so grateful that Chloe had asked to go to the doctor. (She ended up having a raging case of strep throat.)  I can't even let myself think about what would have happened if I hadn't taken him in.  The doctors have now suggested we get him into an asthma specialist to manage his asthma.  

That was a long weekend, and before we knew it, the kids were all complaining of feeling sick.  So no church for them on Sunday, no school Monday, no school Tuesday, no school Wednesday...all while I was trying to pack up our house and get ready for the impending move.  By Wednesday afternoon I was so done.  I love my kids, but it gets really old to listen to four kids hacking up their lungs every 30 seconds, listen to them fight and bicker over what tv show they are going to watch and waiting on them hand and foot.  And let me tell you, taking all four kids to the doctor (again) on Wednesday was not high on my list of fun things to do.  When she told me that now Isaac and Audrey also had strep and would need to stay home for another 24 hours, I thought I was going to run out of the doctor's office and throw myself in front of the nearest bus.

We got home that afternoon and I was not in a good place.  At all.  I was in a downward spiral.  Rock. Bottom.  And then the doorbell rang.  It was an acquaintance from my church, standing there with dinner for us.  She just felt like we needed it.  She had no idea how much I did.  No one knew what was going on in our lives right then.  Well, Someone did.  God does watch over us.  What a blessing.

If this whole moving process has shown me anything, it is how incredibly grateful I am for the people in my life.  We have been blessed with such wonderful friends--friends who have gone above and beyond so many times and in so many ways. Friends who have helped us time and time again.  God helps us daily through the people around us.  I am so thankful for that.