Where Does My Help Come From?

I've been gone for awhile, and I've missed all of you! I don't know why, but I feel like I'm missing out on something when I'm not sharing my life here on this blog. So I'm back and ready to share. Just be glad you can't catch what I'm sharing through your computer screen!

Brian has been fighting an upper respiratory infection for about 3 weeks now. Coleman had a virus, then the swine flu, followed by a sinus infection. About a week after Coleman was diagnosed with the flu, Spence got the swine flu. Between all the doctor trips, pharmacy runs, and drug administering I've finally realized that I need to schedule a doctor appointment for myself before my annual Fall sinus/allergy/whatever-it-is starts keeping me up all night.

Yesterday I was really down about all this sickness. And to top it off, Allie woke up with a low fever. I was going crazy thinking about her getting sick and wondering if she would be able to take Tamiflu or what the doctors would do for her. I prayed every chance I got that God would heal everyone and keep her healthy. I still felt utterly worried about her. We got in the car and I turned on my Christian radio station, willing a song to play that would ease my fears. Nothing. Later that afternoon I finally opened my Bible study book. "Read Psalm 121," it said.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills -
where does my help come from?
2 My hlep comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
5 The Lord watches over you...
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm -
He will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

I cannot tell you how amazing it was to open my Bible and find those words of comfort. Of course, some of you know because you've experienced that same phenomenon also. If you haven't, I pray that you will some day. The maker of heaven and earth wants to help me deal with my sick children. He wants to take away my worries and let me know that He is watching over me. HE is watching over ME, now and forevermore! I just sat and cried. Tears of joy that He cares enough to remind me how much He loves and cares for me and my family. And then I felt a sort of thankfulness for all the the things that seemed to be going wrong. Of course I don't want to have sick kids, or a sick husband, or a baby that might end up sick. I don't want to keep sitting in crowded waiting rooms and shelling out money to doctor after doctor or on all the medications. I don't want the boys to miss anymore school and for us to be trapped at home for days on end. But I realized something. If I hadn't been going through such a rough time, the scripture I read might not have meant anything at all to me. But instead it spoke to me - God spoke to me - and blessed me beyond anything I could have asked for. I'm still praying that everyone will stay on the path to recovery and that Allie won't get sick, but I have that word from God to cling to. That He's got it under control and I am not to worry.

He's also blessed me in countless other ways. He has given me a loving husband who has helped out so much with the boys while they were sick. He's given Brian a job that pays well and has good insurance so we can afford to go to the doctor and get the medicine we need. He's placed my parents close by and given my mom a desire to drop everything and come help when we need her. He's given me a mother-in-law that has called to check on us so many times in the past few weeks just to see if anyone else was sick or if we were getting better. I know others have been praying for us as well. God is using each of you to get me through this time, and I'm so thankful.

The boys are both back at school today, and Allie hasn't had anymore fever. What an answer to prayer! I know that we're not the only family plagued by sickness, so I pray that each of you will get over you illnesses or stay healthy! Here are a few pictures from the last week.

Watching football with Daddy

Big smile!

Poor Spence (this was the day before he was diagnosed with the flu)