Zimmermoments: November 2008

a kinder, more gentle word for 'sucking it up'. No, I'm just kidding! But it is what we have been trying to do a bit more fervently lately. Especially, where snow is concerned. We have already got quite a lot. Sledding is one activity we agreed we could all sort of enjoy at this phase of life (considering ages and abilities of the kiddos). For the most part, we all have fun with this activity, except Eric. He cries each time we put him in a sled. Maybe if it had wheels, he would like it:)
Here are some pics....

Actually, we are liking the snow. For me, it brings back some sweet memories of when I was a little girl. Growing up in Michigan, it seemed it was snowing all of the time. And when Torrey and I were first married, I remember making a trip up to Michigan for my cousin's wedding. It was early December and it snowed almost the entire time we were there. It wasn't blizzard-y snow - just a gentle and peaceful snow that dogs love to play in. Snow that is perfect for mid-night walks as it's glow gives a little light in the darkness. Sweet. For Torrey - it gives him an extra hour or so each morning to himself while he snowblows our LONG driveway. Well, not sure if he's embracing that yet, but I know he's grateful for our snowblower:)
So, yes! The snow is a good thing right now. I continue to be thankful to God who gives us everything we need.

What's new? I rarely know how to answer that question. Most of the time in our current circumstances and time of life, I would naturally think 'everything' is pretty new. And a lot of the other times, I feel like 'not a lot' is new at all. Isn't that just life, though? Each moment, thought and experience we encounter is new for some reason or another, though we (I) so often feel stuck in the monotony of the day to day....(you know the phrase, "same story, different day.") My often poor attitude causes that phrase to come to mind more than it should. While I should be embracing each day as a precious gift from our God, I'm occasionally selfish enough to look at a new day as a burden, a stress - another opportunity to let the frustration of life make me fall in failure. Wow!......pathetic! How did I get there? The past few weeks have challenged me in my outlook on day to day living.
Let me share a little about my last few weeks. I'll give you a bit of our family's journal of events....

Tuesday, October 28- Eric is awake much too soon from his nap. I let him cry for awhile, he'll fall back asleep. After awhile, he's still crying. I go to his room and see (and smell) that he has thrown up all over his crib.....gulp!GUILT!BAD MOMMY! So I get him and his bed all cleaned up and he's fine - running around in his crazy, little boy ways. He's not terribly interested in dinner, but is acting just fine.

Wednesday, October 29 - 1/2 day of school for Ana. She comes home from school, a little crabby - nothing completely abnormal these days. I arranged with my neighbor a kid swap so that we could both go to conferences without children. Yay! The kids are all playing over there until about 10 minutes before my conference. Gracie calls and tells me she has a tummy ache and wants to come home. sigh... this little girl has a tummy ache every day, I don't think much of her complaint. I decide to take her to the conference with me where she is kneeling on the floor at my knees, silent. I can tell by the green look on her face that this is not typical tummy trouble for her. I hurry through the conference. We finish and I insist that Gracie take a trip to the ladies' room, just in case. And no more than a second after walking through the door.....yeah, you guessed it. We rush home, praying that she can keep things 'in' until we get home. We get home and she is begging to go back to the neighbors' home to play. She's fine for the rest of the night. However,........ Ana is a bear. She doesn't want dinner but I'm making her favorite...stirfry. I encourage her to eat. She does. My mistake. Only this time, she is sitting on my lap and it comes on without warning. She sleeps through the night and feels fine the next day.
Thursday, October 30 - Happy Birthday, Little Buddy! I decide to keep Ana home from school, even though she feels better. She's missing 3 hours of school, 1 1/2 where they will be having a Fall (Halloween) party in her class. When I knew everyone was well, we went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate as planned. The kids are having a great time and I can't seem to figure out why I feel so 'blah'. It's my baby boy's birthday - a happy day. As I attempt to run after my very excited 2 year old, I feel the vaguely familiar ache I tend to get any time I have a fever......ugh.... I think I have the flu. Ibuprofen carries me through the day and a good night's sleep does me good.
Friday, October 31 - shortly after midnight...Torrey - in the bathroom, comes back to bed...."I don't feel very good" Of course, it couldn't end there - his lasted 3+ days. He spent nearly 2 days in bed, but managed to drag his feverish self to church to take care of his responsibilites in the Saturday night and Sunday morning services.
Tuesday, November 4 - Everyone is well, my house is clean and 'disinfected'. I voted, I'm praying. I'm feeling encouraged as I anticipate this new week. We go to Bible study and afterwards decide to meet Torrey in his office to take him to lunch. While he, Grace and I are zipping up coats and getting ready to leave, Eric 'satisfies' his curiosity about how Daddy's coffeemaker works and ends up with second degree burns on his left hand. We spend a part of our afternoon in the doctor's office where we get his oughie treated and become educated on how to care for a 2 year old's wound so it doesn't become infected. In the meantime, I notice his nose start to run and a little cough start to develop. By 11pm that night, I'm wondering whether his 103 degree fever is a part of this new and sudden upper respiratory infection or a result of his injured hand. I have no words to reflect on this day. It's a blessing to hide under the blankets in my bed at the end of the day and hope for some sort, any type, of imporvement in the day to come. Our 2 day follow up confirms there is no infection in the hand, but that he has a virus. It ends that day and his hand continues to heal beautifully.
Monday, November 10 - Gracie has another tummy ache and sleeps in the afternoon - which she would never do willingly. She wakes up...with a fever. Only this one last til Friday. Sigh.....
Friday, November 14 - we are all beat. It's been a week......
November 15, 16, 17 - we all wake up pain, injury and fever free. And I'm starting to wonder why these last 3 weeks have been so hard on all of us. Because even with the bit of misery we experienced with each 'event', God saw us through. He was there each step of the way, carrying us, protecting us, blessing us with protection from each of those things developing into something worse. But in my busy-ness and selfishness, I failed to see Him there. I failed to call on Him when I needed Him.. I failed to stop for even a moment to seek Him out. I have a terrible tendency to be too self reliant when things don't go as I hope they will. It affects every earthly relationship I have.....but most seriously, the relationship I have with my heavenly Father. And when I am not 'right' with Him, I'm rarely 'right' with anything.

I've really rambled on about the frustration of our previous days. I'm not even really sure what I wanted to relay in this post - I might not even post it. Yes, that life has been hectic and even challenging, and that from those challenges came great lessons to be learned - but more than that, I want to testify of God's faithfulness and goodness to me (and our family) even when I was not always faithful and good. He is good all the time, it's not hard to see if you (I) choose to take the time to see it.
Here are a few photos of our past couple of weeks - birthdays, Halloween Festival at church, Eric's burned hand (it's not too gross to see it in the picture. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Gracie!