It's Been a While!

I reckon I should post!

I have been majorly stressed lately. Frustrated and angry at some things, and sad and hurt at others.

So when last Saturday rolled around, I was SOOOOO ready for Ladies' Day. Brad watched the girls for me so that I could fully enjoy it. Gina came with me and it was nice to have some female company.

Ladies' Day was SOOOOOO fantastic! Everything was wonderful. The theme was about Esther. These two scriptures were paired together and it just WOWED me.

Esther 4:11All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or women, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
12And they told to Mordecai Esther's words.
13Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.
14For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?


Hebrews 4: 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The devotion was wonderful, the class was wonderful, the message was wonderful. I sooooo needed to hear these things. I needed to be reminded that I am chosen by God for such a time as this. I needed to be reminded that the things that I endure in this life are for a far greater purpose than I can even imagine, and I needed to be reminded to behave myself well in the King's house! The Lord is so kind to me to let me know that He loves me at the same time He is showing me things in my life that, in the words of Tammy, "ought not be!"

So I came away from Ladies' Day feeling very refreshed! And nervous too. See I'd been shown some things about my attitude and how I respond to circumstances that I don't like... And while I was thankful for the Lord's loving rebuke, and I knew that He could help me to respond the way I should, I was nervous that I wasn't going to let Him help me. Funny because I normally don't feel that way. But on the way back home, Gina and I were testifying to each other about the day... and we just encouraged each other in that area. She really encouraged me, I know that!!!

We went home by way of Lebanon, and went to the Outlet mall... I'd been wanting... ok, DYING to go to the Bath & Body Works Outlet. But we never get over that way anymore. OH OH OH!!!! I almost forgot!!!!!!!

Gina and I were talking and encouraging and rejoicing on the way to Lebanon, on 840. We calm down and I look down, and I tell Gina that she needs to start praying we make it to a gas station because we are out of gas!!! And it was on E. Not in the red at all. This car runs out of gas LONG before it makes it to E. And there it was. And no gas station for several more miles. There is NOTHING on 840. At all. We were going to get off at the exit for 109, but I missed it! AAARGH!!!! So the next is 40 and then Lebanon. I was telling Gina about the time when Brad & I were dating and we drove 45 minutes with no gas! God totally did it. And guess what??? He did it again! The car only started sputtering JUST as I was pulling into the gas station. God is good to take care of me in my stupidity sometimes, but probably only this time because I was too busy talking about Him to look at the gas gauge! Ha ha!

We got cappuccinos at the gas station and then went to the Mall. Thankfully it had stopped raining. We had so much fun!!!!! We just got a couple little things at B&BW and then went window shopping. Brad will window shop with me, but only at a few stores. He doesn't care for clothes shopping. Plus it's just different to window shop with a girl than with a guy. Ha ha! Then we went to Goodwill. Gina found a skirt and I got 2 more matching dresses for the girls, and a sweater for Brad. Plus a brand new in package album of Carolyn Arends' Parenthood album. We had the book and the single but not the whole album. We used the single for the slideshow at Sara's baby dedication.

That reminds me! Here's the corrected version of the slideshow that I figured out how to put on youtube a few months ago. It's hard to believe our first baby isn't so little anymore!




So anyway, Saturday was a fantastic day and I am very thankful for it!!!!

Tiny Bit

My throat is just a tiny bit sore. I feel fine. I'm soooo glad. This all could have landed me in the hospital or needing surgery. So much worse than it was.

We spent all day at church yesterday. I brought sandwhich stuff and I ran to Wal-Mart for the cheese I forgot to bring from home (can't have sandwhiches in our family without cheese!), a tomato, and dessert. We had so much fun. We watched Bible cartoons while we ate (LOL!) and then Brad and Sara took a nap in one of the Sunday school rooms. One of them (I think it's the teen girls?) put a couch in there with a cute slipcover. Perfect for Sunday afternoon napping! Ha! Bet they weren't thinking of that when they put it in there! Emmy, who was not interested in napping, crawled around the sanctuary while I chatted with my brother Matthew on the phone. It was a very good day. I think folks oughtta stay and hang out with us next week.

Bleh!

Tuesday night I woke up with a sore throat. It got worse throughout the day on Wednesday and that night it got bad. It hurts to even swallow my own spit. (You don't know how much you appreciate that until you can't do it!). And I was running a fever. I had chills so bad Wednesday night I actually was having muscle spasms in my back. I went to the clinic yesterday, sure it was strep. Well it's not strep. They think it's a really bad bacterial infection in my throat. My tonsils are swollen up HUGE! The dangly thing in the middle is actually resting on one. Anyway, when I told them I was glad at least that it wasn't strep, she said she'd rather I had strep! She said strep is easy to treat and get rid of. She doesn't think this junk is gonna be so easy.

The thing is too, that off and on since I was twelve, I've had trouble with my tonsils. Nothing big. Just annoying. Never been seen for it. A month or so ago I felt yucky and my tonsils were acting up and I wondered if it was my tonsils making me sick. It went away though and I didn't think about it.

Sooo... it kind of freaked me out when she said to watch my breathing...if I have trouble breathing it could be a paratonsillar abcess, which is an emergency situation. When she told me that, I told her about my tonsil issues. She said she didn't think it was that bad YET, just to watch it. They gave me a GINORMOUS shot of antibiotics. WOW that stung. My hip is super sore now.

Ibuprofen is keeping the fever at bay. I feel better today as far as I'm not wiped out like I was yesterday. But my throat still hurts. I haven't been able to eat anything since Wednesday night. They said to just forget about eating, and to just try to drink and stay hydrated. Bleh. I hate it. I want to eat, but I can't.

They said that if I'm not significantly improved by Saturday, then I have to come back in.

I woke up this morning at 1 am all paranoid about my breathing. And then my paranoia was making me breathe weird. LOL! So I got up and made Brad's & Sara's lunch for today (torture, I tell ya!) and did some laundry. By then I was settled down enough I could go back to sleep.

I am sooooo ready to be over this. PRAY I get over this soon and PRAY the kids and Brad don't get it. I am trying to wash my hands often and keep everyone out of my face (hard to do with kiddos!).