Less of Me

Y'all, the last two weeks have been something else.  Sick babies, tornadoes, facial stitches, oh my!  I am here to report to you, though, that God is still Good and that He gives Joy to those who seek His face!  For real.

Last Monday, Landry started getting sick.  I'll spare you all of the details, but basically, we ended up in the ER Thursday night with a dehydrated baby who needed fluids (through an IV that was NO fun to set up).  Bless her sweet bones, her pediatrician diagnosed her with adenovirus the next day.  Basically, throwing up, diarrhea, gunky eyes, fever, fun.  Well, this week, she has just not gotten better at all.  Starting Monday, she's been very fussy, very tired, and very sick.  I've been able to keep fluids in her, but she has eaten next to nothing.  Another trip to the doctor yesterday for blood work and a mononucleosis test.  We don't have the results back from the titer yet, but her liver enzymes are highly suggestive of mono.  We hope, anyways.  If it's negative, then we'll have to figure out what is going on with the liver numbers.  We are thinking she may have adenovirus as well, so we are doing a stool test to confirm that diagnosis.  She has been pitiful.

Barrett had a brief stomach bug this week, as well, and we have had to remove the living room rug.  There was just no hope for it!  He quickly returned to normal, though, and is his usual ball of energy and spunk.  He is so very sweet when he's sick.

Charlee is great; had a wonderful Kindergarten play this week that was just precious!  She will be done with Kindergarten in two short weeks.  CUH-RAY-ZEE!!!  Didn't I just give birth to her?  

I went to the dermatologist for the first time in my life this week, and had to have a mole on my face biopsied.  It came back abnormal, so now it has to be completely removed.  Fun times.  It isn't cancerous, but I guess abnormal ones can turn into cancerous ones, so it's gotta go.  After Chandler's grandmother had to have a large skin cancer removed and seeing a guy at my church suffering through melanoma, I figured I needed to stay on top of things with this fair skin, freckly, moly self.  :)

Chandler and I will celebrate 10 years in December.  CUH-RAY-ZEE again!  We decided this would be the perfect time to finally take our honeymoon.  :)  Plans are underway!  Hooray!

We had a scary spell of severe weather this week, and tornadoes broke out all around us.  Monday AND Tuesday, I was glued to the tv and my phone analyzing all the weather patterns (because I'm such a meteorology expert - ha!).  We were spared from any tornadoes at our house, but there were several devastating storms around the state, a couple of which were not very far away at all.  Life is precious.  PRECIOUS.  So don't take a minute for granted.

Yesterday, as I was holding my inconsolable baby who feels like poo, I felt such a feeling of peace and comfort.  As I was doing my best to comfort her, I was receiving comfort that was so Divine and Perfect.  I love when I get gentle squeezes from God.  He has filled my week with such a feeling of Joy, unexplainable to those who have never felt it.  He hasn't promised to make my paths easy or straight or restful, but He has promised to fill me with Peace and Joy through the not-so-easy stuff.  My problems this week pale in comparison to many, many people in the world today.  I read earlier about 234 girls being abducted from their school in Nigeria a couple of weeks ago, some of them being forced into marriage with their abductors, cries from their family for their return.  My.  heart.  aches.  And, please Lord, let it ache.

Joy is what He brings me.  Thankfulness.  Peace.  Blessings.  Abundance.  And heartbreak that matches His.  It is so easy to try to block that feeling because it's no fun to hurt, but we are His hands and feet and we are here for His Glory, not our own.  For His duty, not our own.  For His Kingdom, not our own.  Oh, God, break down the walls of the self-serving kingdom I build every day and replace it with You.  Less of me.  More of You.  Break me of me even as I sit here and type, and replace me with You.  Oh.  How.  He.  Loves.  Us.

He must increase, but I must decrease.  John 3:30