The Flu

Man, last week feels like a year of our life! Sunday morning Nathan woke up with a fever and misery, so I stayed home from church with him. He stayed miserable for a day or two. Justin and I planned to have every night last week to work on our missions service for church scheduled for the following Sunday. Monday night we got a running start on it, and Nathan was well on the mend. We sat and talked through a rough outline...but then Tuesday hit. I was totally wiped out with a fever of 102.3. Wednesday morning Alex woke up with a fever, so Justin went to work late allowing me an added couple hours of sleep, and Alex a little extra TLC. By Wednesday afternoon it was obvious that Alex needed to be seen by the doctor, so I dragged our rugged feverish crowd to the pediatrician. He looked at all of us (including me because I was in pretty rough shape), and sent us home with Flu as the official diagnosis and a prescription for sleep and fluids. On the way home I was pulling into our neighborhood and I heard my sleeping Alex make a horrible sound. I turned around and he was gazing off into space. I shook his foot, tried to wake him up, but his eyes rolled back into his head, and he stayed drooling....AHHH!! I called Justin and told him to "come home because I can't wake Alex up." I yanked the car in the driveway and called 911. Justin got home just as the first responders arrived...Alex stayed "altered" until the ambulance got him to the hospital. This was our first experience with a Febrile Seizure (a seizure brought on by a spike in his fever). SOOOO SCARY. Alex received fluids, a chest x-ray, antibiotics, and some blood work before they released us around 11pm. (Justin's parents took care of Nathan for us).
So where does that leave us with missions??? It left our heads spinning. I was sick as a DAWG, and miserably sleep deprived. Justin was juggling our needs and work, and keeping things together. Yes, we were shaken...shaken to our knees in prayer. Our little band began to mend...SLOWLY...but surely. On Friday night Justin and I put together an outline for our missions service, but we went to bed unhappy with the work we'd done...it was too sterile, it was lacking our hearts and God's guidance. Saturday morning we scrapped what we had and started over with a different approach. What scripture has God used to open our eyes to His will? In searching out the answer, Justin opened a book called God's Little Instruction Book and found a quote, not for the service, but for us, "All sunshine makes a desert. James 1:2-3 says: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." We haven't touched this book in years, and yet here in the midst of adversity, God leads us to Himself through it.
So we ended the week stronger than we'd started. Praise God for His comfort in times of hardship.

Mending in Him,
Gillian