My biggest fear....

There is one thing I have always feared with having a large family.  It's not paying for college or all "those" weddings (we do have 6 girls!).   It's not losing my 20 year old body (I lost that after baby number 1!).  It's not that I wouldn't have enough time to spend with each of my children (because we home school we have lots of extra hours together every day).  It's not that more children would push my marriage to second place (hubby and I try to make our marriage a priority).   My big fear with having a large family is someone will always be sick.  And, unfortunately, my fear has become a reality over the last few months.  The day one person starts feeling better, another one gets sick, and on and on and on.

We have suffered through two rounds of the stomach flu (and one round of this flu was NOT the 24 hour flu but lasted for over 100 hours for some of the victims!) and now we are going through round two of the influenza flu.  Seriously?  Seriously!  Seriously.  And that's not to mention the "normal" things we have like a 7-year old that gets occasional migraines or a 1 year old who is going through teething, or a momma who is recovering from giving birth.   And of course, the normal sniffles and colds that are tolerable. 

So as we continue to fight this battle I keep asking myself "what is God trying to teach me?"  I'm thinking I need to catch on to that and then maybe health will be restored!  So here is a list of some of the things I have learned from the constant sicknesses that have been in our house.

1. I have the unconditional love of my dear husband.  He has seen me at my worse ... physically and mentally these days.  His love for me amazes me!  He is my rock!

2. Things could be worse.  My husband constantly reminds me of this (in a good way).  Stomach flu's and influenza are all things that will eventually get better (right???).  Unfortunately, we know families who's dear children have suffered/or are suffering from terrible diseases.

3.  How kind my 2 oldest girls are (well, I knew they were, but to see it displayed without any prompting was priceless).  They wrote the nicest letters, made a bed-tray for me with a book, ice-cold water and cough drops when I was sick this week.

4. A mom's love never stops.  My mom has dropped off home-made chicken noodle soup twice in the last few months (she lives an hour away!), and checks in almost daily to see how the crew is doing.  My mother-in-law also checks in daily to see how everyone is.  A mother's love is always there.

5. We have been surprised by some  home-cooked meals from some of our friends over the last couple of months.  Very helpful when I'm not able to get supper on the table.

6.  Sickness aren't predictable. Bummer!  I thought you could only go through the stomach flu and influenza once a season but unfortunately we've proven both of those things wrong.

7.  What I use to consider a messy house is no longer the case.  The way my house looks now, after weeks of sicknesses, takes messiness to a whole new level.  Seriously.  A whole new level!

8. How calming a new-born baby is.  It has been such a huge stress-reliever to just sit and nurse my new-born baby. 

9.  How responsible my older girls are being able to make lunch and help out with laundry.  They also do a great job caring for their younger sisters. 

10.  That God is in control.  This is a tough one for me.  I want the control.  I want to make my kids healthy.  I want it in my time.  But HE is in control and I need to trust HIM.