Illness and medicine

DIDN'T BEN DO A GREAT GREAT JOB ON OUR NEW HEADER??!! Those are all pictures he took in our most recent shoot..

Poor Brennan's "I don't feel good face"

All our medicine!!!!!

Lots of tv time till daddy gets home this is how i have survived my sinus infection while Brennan has endured his double ear infection.

In the middle of a bad cough.

This is not how i would choose to spend the days between Thanksgiving & Christmas. I would much rather be baking and listening to Christmas carols and settling down with hot cocoa and the reruns of timeless Christmas shows at night. 

BUT...instead i have been wiping noses and giving medicines.  I have truly been in survival mode day in and day out. I have a severe sinus infection, Brennan has a double ear infection & Knox has the croop. We have enough medicine here to start an apothecary! When Ben asked if i had a good day yesterday i simply responded "no one went hungry"...

So for Christmas all I want it for us to be healthy again and out of survival mode!!

May you and yours enjoy the holidays!!

Happiness

Have you ever wanted to be happy? Done things to make yourself happy? Been motivated by happiness? Have you tried endlessly to make yourself happy? Do people describe you as 'happy'? Do you describe yourself as 'happy'? How about God-do you think of Him as 'happy'?

Of course we ALL want to be happy, we all try to be happy, we make choices based on what will make us happy, we want to be described as happy, we wish we were always happy and, God- well, we wish He was always happy too.  But we are told by some that His happiness is based on our obedience and if we don't obey, in essence He is not happy.. 

The questions above are all that I have had in the past.  And i have marveled and rejoiced that 'yes' is my answer! But then i asked myself why could i answer yes? Have i just had that good of a life? Some may argue that is why, but i want to propose otherwise:

1. Happiness is circumstantial. (I was taught this, by my parents-as proof for the difference between joy & happiness. B/c of my name being Joy, I often felt like being called something else and told my parents so- to which they replied with this lesson).

If everything is going my way- i am happy. If not- i am sad. But joy exists even when things aren't going my way.  It is the gift of God to see things as He sees them. 

2.  God is good.  I am not saying that just knowing God is what is good, or that when God does what I like that He is good, or when I am healthy, clean, safe and content-He is good. NO. Always. No matter how I or anyone else feels, no matter the condition of the economy, no matter the condition of any circumstance- He IS good. He does what is best. I don't have to agree with Him or think that what He chose is best. But I must believe it for me to be truly happy. 

3. God gave us the desire to be happy. Every person who has ever lived or will ever live desires to be happy. Consider these quotes:

"We hold these truths to be self–evident,That all men are created equal,That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"-These words were written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.

"Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible."  ~St. Augustine

He gave us this desire so that we would eternally be on a quest for Himself. For the only true way we can be happy is in HIM. The old hymn says "trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey". I have found that if i truly believe God is good and that He genuinely wants me to be happy and i do obey Him that i have a deeper more meaningful happiness than anything i could muster up alone. [i.e. It may not seem like it would make you happy to discipline your child when they disobey-for it doesn't make then happy when you discipline them and if they are unhappy then to a degree aren't you unhappy? However, God says "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. And "The Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights."( Prov  3:12 and 13:24. )And when i see the fruit of disciplining my child i am happy.] God knows what makes up truly happy. More than we do and through circumstances we may not enjoy at all times, but that its end is happiness. For life will be FULL of times of 'unhappiness' but we await an eternal happiness in Him in heaven forever and ever. What greater happiness is there than Him? "whom have I in heaven but you And earth has nothing I desire besides you." Psalm 73:25.

4.  God is happy. He does what pleases Himself.(Psalm 135:6/115:3)  There is nothing that 

happens that he does not allow, foresee and plan for the good of Himself and His people 

(Romans 8:28). So why couldn't i trust and rest fully knowing this? What could be told to me 

to make me any happier? He is in charge. Not some unhappy, bent on destruction-God. He 

works for my good. He is good. He is happy. So should i be.

I think most of my life i unknowingly thought of God as happy. Now, i consciously tell myself 

that. God is happy. He is good. So this (whatever it may be) is for my good and so i should be 

happy.

So friends, how is your level of happiness and what is it based on?

Brother Of Mine

©  samira

Brother of mine

I know sometimes I whine

But deep down I really find you somewhat divine

You are smarter than you think.

Smarter than me – in some ways

Like you know how to walk and wink.

Brother of mine

I could not love you more

I could be no prouder

No matter what occurs.

No matter what is said or done

I loved you from the start.

No matter the age 

You’ll always be in my heart.

Gatlinburg

This past week we took a mini vacation to Gatlinburg. Ben's mom sells time shares and the unit she works in currently is the new Wilderness Resort in Gatlinburg. It is located right on the Little Pigeon River and has an indoor water park. It is top notch and was quite an experience. It did snow on Saturday and we got a shot of the boys before my arms gave out and the cold set in..

There were two enormous water slides, a surf machine, two kiddie pool/activity areas, an oversized hot tub, a lazy river, and a wave pool..here is the big kiddie play area..

All that fun and where is my son???... He discovered his shadow! He would walk backwards and forwards and bend down and try to touch it.He finally waved at it and then patted his chest and said mine! Ha..that is my child! Its the small things..

And here is my talented, athletic, oh so hot hubby surfing the waves!

Woo Hoo!! 

Check out the resort by clicking here. It was PERFECT for a young family week of fun-summer in the winter! It was very warm and the water was heated. Families with kids 4 & up would probably enjoy it most though..

Big Brother Little Brother

I am so thrilled that Brennan has begun to enjoy Knox. The last couple of days have been precious to watch. I managed to get a few moments on camera and thought i would share:

Here is Brennan crawling to read to Knoxie.

He would open a book, close it and then say "the end"..it was PRECIOUS!! However in one book he did say hop hop when there was a bunny, so maybe he knows more than i think..And yes..he has on a necklace, his "melmo" underwear, socks-no pants and a shirt that he was wearing for the 2nd day in a row!

Do they resemble to you?

So here is the story. I got out the Bumbo the other day to see if Knox was ready for it and Brennan found the new special seat quiet exciting. Today i put Knox in it while i was doing some stuff and Brennan came to me with his sad face and said "knox". Like he was tattling on him for being in the chair. I went to him and said 'you don't want Knox to sit in the Bumbo?' he looked confused..'you don' t want Knox to sit in the special chair?' 'huh,' he says, (his version of uh huh) 'you want a special chair?" i say. Yes he says!! So i take him to his room to his little chair that he rarely sits in and explain: 'This chair is too big for Knox, its too small for mommy and daddy, but its JUST right for you! (feeling a little like Goldie Locks and the 3 Bears..) I tell him its the chair mommy and daddy bought for him when Knox was born so that he would know he was special. That he is the ONLY one in our family who can sit in this chair right now and that makes it special. 'Its Brennan's special chair' i say. Then i asked him if he wanted to sit in it and BOY was he excited! Then, sweet thing...he pushed it over to the office where Knox was, right beside him and sat down. Like "hmph, my special chair, Knox special chair.." Don't you LOVE IT!?!

Thanksgiving

^{Some people don't get into the whole turkey for 4 days straight. Some people would rather be at home for the holidays than to travel to what used to be home. Some prefer to avoid traditions, but not me. I've always been a sentimentalist.. I LOVE the smell of food cooking; of waking up knowing that today we get to eat on fancier dishes, have more than our normal square meal, enjoy more than one dessert, laugh louder and listen longer than usual. I love fireplaces (though they irritate the heck out of my sinuses), i love scarfs and football and leaves and casseroles. I love seeing people that you only see once a year and tasting foods that have yummy ingredients like cranberries or marshmallows.} 

THIS YEAR, our poor Brennan.. He cried through his Thanksgiving feast at Mother's Day Out, left without eating a bite, and fell asleep on the 3 minute drive home. When he awoke from a 3 hour nap his temp was 103.1. I called his pediatrician and he said there was nothing to do-just rotate the Tylenol/Motrin but that's it. I wanted a second opinion so i called our GP. He looked at him and though he couldn't find anything (ear/throat etc) he called in a prescription of azithromiacin. We went ahead and put him to bed and Ben went to get the medicine for morning. The next morning we gave him the med, packed and left for Alabama (Ben's family in Muscle Shoals-we celebrated early with my family). By Chattanooga we realized it was a bad idea and decided to turn around. That night we had our normal bedtime routine and Brennan started acting funny-jerky movements, fighting the routine, crying..it got worse and worse. Soon he was acting like he was out of his mind, thrusting himself at you or other objects then screaming, squirming..he seemed to be gripped with fear. We had never seen him act like this! It was quiet scary & frustrating. We called his pediatricians office and spoke with a triage nurse. She said to head to the ER. So we did. After about 2-3 hours of Brennan not going to anyone but me, having these fierce fits, not using any words or sign language, acting insane. (no really)We got in the car and he started speaking words..asking for "E I O" So...long story short-[ i could keep you up til 2am with the us, but i will spare you] I got online after no one could figure out what it was and it had all the symptoms of  anaphylaxis. (click to learn more)

Its a severe reaction to histamines (antibiotics, bee stings etc..) BOO!! So no more of that medicine for Big Guy and now he is just fine..But needless to say, i did not get my fill of turkey and dressing. However, the Simmons (thank you once again Dear Jesus) invited us to share in their thanksgiving leftovers. So we headed to Teliquah Falls to a beautiful cabin and after a fun photo shoot (click to see pics)  we enjoyed some of my favorite foods before little Brennan had had enough and we returned home (a 45 min drive). 

As i reflected on this season of my life and felt a teeny bit sorry for myself i read the following passage and it SO encouraged me:

^{1 peter 2:21-25}This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step. 
He never did one thing wrong,  Not once said anything amiss.
They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing...

Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master... It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.

hmmm..i don't know suffering do i?

Obama

Friends, I don't know how you feel about our President, but this is convicting:

1 Peter 2: 11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

 ^13-17Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God's emissaries for keeping order. It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government.