Ethan had a really bad asthma attack in the middle of the night last night. He ran into our room barking and crying that he couldn’t breathe. It was so bad that even George was freaked out. We had to do two different emergency nebulizer meds back to back because the barking wouldn’t stop even after the first round of breathing treatments. Even after the barking stopped, he was still wheezing. We had to do the same thing all over again early this morning. Scary. I took him to the asthma dr. today and she wants to rule out a sinus infection by having him get a CT scan on Friday (she assumes it was either allergies or a sinus infection that triggered the attack). And she prescribed him a higher dose of one of his meds, when I went to fill it- it cost $740. Obviously I didn’t get it filled. While I was there we talked about my reaction to my recent shot and she adjusted the amount of the concentration I am getting. My sinus infection has not cleared up, we think maybe because of all the pine tree pollen that is everywhere (our playground is coated yellow from it). So that was our day, prayers for Ethan are greatly appreciated.
Ian is 15 months now and growing bigger every day. He and Ethan are playing well together. He likes to imitate whatever Ethan is doing and loves to ride on his little car on the back porch with his brother. He is trying to say many words, though most of them aren’t clear yet. He has caught on to the magic word and when he is hungry he runs over to the refridgerator or pantry and points and signs “please.” He loves trains and Handy Manny, he’s even made up his own sign for the tv show. He’s the youngest in his music class but he seems to be catching on to the expectations of the class. Ian is a picky eater and I think he would prefer to still be eating baby food but George has decreed that we will be buying no more baby food-so I’m trying soup with him instead. We are all having lots of fun playing with Ian and I’m so glad that he and Ethan love playing together.
I’ve been getting shots for over 3 years now for my allergies. As time goes on I guess the dose they give me gets more concentrated. I’ve been having problems with one of my arms blowing up huge after my shots (the arm that the dust mite shot goes into). Yesterday about a half hour after my shot, we were home and my hands started itching. I had little bumps all over the palms of my hands and they were red and swollen. Then everything started itching. Both arms were itching like crazy and were red and swollen. I was hesitant to take a Benadryl because I knew I couldn’t watch the kids very effectively. But I couldn’t watch them at all if my throat swelled up and I stopped breathing so I went ahead and took one. In a half hour, everything stopped itching. I’m not quite sure if I should continue getting the shots, I think I may be too allergic to tolerate it? Anyway, I am thankful that the reaction wasn’t worse and that God was gracious to protect me from my throat closing up. I guess I have some questions for the dr. now…
Interesting title huh? I mentioned in a previous post that I had gotten “Respectable Sins” by Jerry Bridges for Christmas (thanks mom and dad:). Though I have done some book reviews on my blog this is not a review, just wanted to share what I am learning. God is really using this book to reveal to me a great deal about myself. God is so gracious that when a person first becomes a believer, He does not convict them of every sin in their life. Imagine if He did! Yikes! He reveals sins to us when we are ready. The book I’m reading is about the sins that Christians don’t really think about as being sins, we tolerate them. We look at the really “obvious” sins that other people commit and are proud of ourselves that we don’t do those (adultery, murder, theft, etc). But the author points out that all sin is wrong in God’s and that we need to pull the plank out of our own eyes. When most of us think about “respectable sins” we think of gossip. That certainly is included but there are many more. When I look at the list in the table of contents, I am convicted even before I read the chapters! Here’s an example of some of the sins covered: Anxiety, Discontentment, Unthankfulness, Selfishness, Lack of Self-Control, Impatience and Irritability, Anger, etc. It’s very well written and very practical. He gives ideas as to ways to pray for God’s help in conquering the sins and verses to focus on. I am guilty of every sin that he writes about but one of the ones that I have been praying for help with is my irritability and lack of patience. I’ve post on a number of occassions about my struggle with patience since having kids and the HS has pointed out to me one of the things I do quite frequently when irritated or impatient with the kids (and sometimes my husband) is that I sigh. It’s been kind of an unconscious act but the HS has been pointing it out to me more and more. I hate being woken up at night and one night recently when Ethan came in to get me in the middle of the night, I let out a big sigh of irritation that I had been woken up. From a psychological perspective I know the impact that a parent’s frequent irritability and impatience can have on the developing psyche of a child, but even more importantly, it is a sin against God. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Eph 4:2. I am still working my way through the book but just wanted to share what I am learning. And to my small group friends-I’m trusting that you all will keep me accountable:)
The weather has been really nice out thanks to colder weather up North. We’ve been enjoying our playground and the new sandbox the boys got for Christmas. Ian mostly just throws the sand around but Ethan has set up elaborate tracks and mountains for trucks to drive over. Ian tries his best to injure himself on the playground and I am his offical spotter:)
For the past 3 years or so there has been an ongoing discussion in our house about schooling options for when Ethan starts kindergarten. Some may wonder why there would even be a discussion since we live in one of the best school districts in the state. Many people move to our area because of the schools. Be that as it may, it’s been a conviction on my heart that the kids have a Christian education. My husband and I both have experienced public schooling as well as Christian schooling. There are indeed pluses and minus’s to both. I am also open to the option of homeschooling, my husband however is not. I have enjoyed working with Ethan on reading, writing and math skills at home and believe I would enjoy homeschooling. Thus the discussions we’ve been having. My husband would prefer that we take advantage of the public schools and I prefer either Christian school or homeschooling. We have another year yet to come to an agreement and so I’ve been praying for the Lord’s will in our decision. (I think I may have worn him down a little because he seems more open to the idea of a Christian School:) But for now the discussions continue…
The girls and I in my small group have recently started reading “Shopping for Time.” It’s basically about how to accomplish everything called has called you to do each day. One of the suggestions is to wake up at 5am every morning and start your day with God before the kids get up. 5am seems so much like the middle of the night to me but I had been thinking about doing it at 6am instead. That would mean Ian would no longer be my alarm clock and I would have to set one. Anyway I’ve been thinking about it and praying about it and a funny thing happened this morning. I did not set my alarm (because I have another sinus infection and don’t feel that great) but I heard Ian making noise and I looked at my clock. It thought it said 6:50. So I jumped out of bed and took a quick shower. I come back out, Ian is back to sleep and my clock says 6:30. So I chuckle and sit down to read the word and pray. Funny thing how God works right? In addition to reading scripture I recently picked up a book from a favorite author of mine (Joni Eareckson Tada) called 31 Days Toward Passionate Faith and I wanted to share a couple of quotes that struck me: “Christ brings the heart to heaven first-and then He brings the person.” “Growing spiritually involves a gradual transger of our inner investments from earth to heaven.” Just something to think about.
“We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Cor 4:18.
I’ve never really done the whole New Year’s Resolutions thing, unless you count the year I decided I wanted to grow house plants (don’t have any now so you can see where that resolution went). The whole concept of making resolutions for a new year is interesting. I wonder if we didn’t have the never ending holiday that starts 10/31 through to 1/1, would anyone need any resolutions? It seems like the last part of the year is so full of excesses that by January everyone is ready to cut back, slow down and reprioritize. By excesses I mean excess candy, cookies, turkey, pies, money spent, gifts given and received, time spent, etc. This January I am definitely ready to get back to normal and do away with the excesses. While I don’t have any resolutions per say, I have been convicted by the HS in a number of areas in which I need to simplify or develop consistency. I’ve been convicted by the Lord in my lack of stewardship regarding my spending and I’ve been asking Him to help me in that. One of the books I asked for this Christmas was “Respectable Sins” and there is a long list of which many I am guilty of and I’m hopeful that the Lord will use Jerry Bridges book to help me grow in grace this year. And since I got the Wii Fit for Christmas I guess I will be working on that this year as well:) So do I have any New Year’s Resolutions? I guess it depends on perspective but I do know that God is resolved to continue the work in me that He has willed and has great plans for me this year. We’ll just have to wait and see what they are!:)
