My Cloudy Day Thoughts

Good morning! Well, at least it's morning for me. I've got my coffee with ff vanilla caramel creamer...yummy! The 4 girls sleeping upstairs have not made a peep! I allowed the girls to each have a friend spend the night last night. With 2 girls so close together, I often have to treat them like twins. They like so many of the same things, and sometimes that can be a bit suffocating when one has a friend over and the other does not. It's so ironic. If Natalie has a friend over and Serena joins in, it's usually okay for quite awhile and then the welcome obviously wears off! Feelings get hurt, sniping words are said, and one comes complaining to me! However, if both girls have friends over, the 4 of them will hang out together the whole time and not complain at all!! That's smart mothering, my friends. Take notes!! :)

I love kids, but sleepovers are like being pecked to death by a duck. I have been needing time away with my husband, away from the kids, for some time. I guess you can see why having a houseful would not lend itself to my sanity. I need to add that these are great kids, and they have been really good. It's not them. It's me. Steve returns home from TX tonight after being gone a few days. It will be nice to have him back! Steve and I don't do anything without our kids. They go everywhere with us. We've never hired sitters. We don't like to impose on grandparents very often. But sometimes, we just need to be alone.

I wasn't sure what my post was going to be about today, as I have many things running through my mind. I woke up to a barking dog at 6:30. I guess I'm glad she let me know she needed to "go" or I would have had a lake to clean up. I couldn't get back to sleep (as usual), so I began praying about various things. It is my prayer time that I get peace about whatever is going on around me. There is nothing I can physically do about any of them, and God reminds me that it is his job to deal with those things, not mine. I am just to give them over. I wish it was as easy as it sounds. I'm still learning.

I will share just one of those things. Natalie's diagnosis of scoliosis was bad enough, but the fact that her brace is not going to work is worse. The surgeon says she needs to wear it. The man who designed her brace says she has to wear it as designed. This brace is heavy, thick, long, and constrictive. It does not fit under her clothes, as we were assured. She cannot use the bathroom without removing it, which she cannot do easily by herself. She can hardly sit in it without it pushing up into her armpit, making it difficult to use her arms. No one has been able to counsel us about the emotional side of having to wear an orthopedic device, and so that part of it also remains unsolved. It is not what we expected at all. It was extremely costly for us to get it, and yet it sits in the basement, unused. So, what to do? I've stepped out boldly and have begun praying for a complete healing and straightening of her spine. I've told the scoliosis it has no business hanging around there and to take a hike. I have laid hands on her, and I've asked everyone to be in agreement with me. Will God do it? Who knows. But my faith says, "yes,He will", or I wouldn't bother asking. I don't know His timetable, but I am holding on in expectation of healing in His perfect timing. Waiting is not easy either.

Like I said, I wasn't sure about what I was going to post today. I had hoped it would be something funny or clever, but the truth is, I'm not always funny and clever! This is me, and apparently this was heavy on my mind as Sophie woke me up this morning. Thanks for listening.

Be blessed today and every day. God loves you and so do I!