Drained of Creative Juices

...As much as it might seem in the blogging world that I have fallen off the face of the earth (or at least into a permanent place over the toilet...HA!) I am actually starting to feel better! YAY!!!! I was able to go with the students and Fred to Fuge Camp in Mississippi two weeks ago which proves that I must be over the worst of it. It was such a blessing to be able to join Fred and the group for the week. My mom, Laura, and Maddie came to stay with the kids at our house which really was the only way that I could go. Thank you sooooo much, fam!!!! It was a wonderful week for our group. We experienced a great time of growth both in intimacy with the Lord and one another. I was also able to get to know many of the girls on a deeper level. I missed the kids like crazy and was really ready to get home and see them. They on the other hand, had a blast with their Grandma, Aunt and cousin. I don't think that they even missed Fred and I at all...which I'm thankful for.
SO, like I said, I am starting to feel better. I'll be 14 weeks along on Thursday, which is the point in which I felt normal again with Joshua and Anna Bell. I have been greatly convicted of my selfishness and focus on my own comfort over these past few months. It's made me wonder what Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was and how there are so many people that live their entire lives with physical pain much greater than pregnancy sickness.-And yet they push through living life and worshiping God in the midst of pain. There have been so many days over the past two months when I just get through without authentically worshiping God because I feel some sort of entitlement to feel bad. Woe is me!!!! God is so much greater than that!!!!
Anyways...on a completely different note, we traveled to North Carolina over the weekend. Fred officiated a college friend's wedding on Saturday afternoon. It was a crazy weekend as traveling always is when you have little people. To summarize the weekend, I am going to muster up enough creativity (which I have been severely lacking lately) to give you a TOP TEN LIST of exciting or amusing things that happened over the weekend. Here we go:
# 10: We left the house at 5 am on Thursday, only to discover as we were trying to get out the door that our water heater shut off. My blessing of a husband climbed up into the attic above the garage at 2 in the morning on Sunday, so that we would all have hot water the next day....um...happy Father's Day, dear:)
# 9: A friend on mine from here rode with us for the first 5 hours of the trip along with her 18 month old daughter. She is also 13 weeks pregnant and has worse sickness than me. This could have been awful- 3 toddlers and 2 puking women at 5 am, but it actually was great. I'm so glad that we could give her a ride. Please pray for her- she is visiting her 18 year old sister who was just diagnosed with cancer and started chemo on Saturday.
# 8: We stopped off at Fred's dad's house for the lunch and a quick swim on Thursday afternoon. You would not believe what a champ of a swimmer Joshua is becoming! We put his water wings on and he is all over the place! His favorite thing to do is jump off of the diving board and swim to the edge all by himself! The boy is fearless! We have prayed that he would be strong and courageous as Joshua 1:7-9, but he makes us a little nervous sometimes!!!
# 7: We were able to see some great friends during our quick trip. Hands, Bibles, Nelsons, Brad, & Hollands- it was wonderful seeing you all!!!
# 6: The timing of this trip was a little rough, being that the kids had just spend an entire week apart from us and with Grandma. We like to call this period of time "Grandma Detox." Mom does a great job of loving and entertaining our kids, but Joshua is a kid who NEEDS consistent discipline and routine. For those of you who struggle with the idea of spanking, let me just tell you, Joshua is a completely different and happy child when he is within the bounds of consistent and biblical discipline. Needless to say, we are having a quiet week at home this week where we can get back on track:)
# 5: I felt the baby move for the first time this weekend. I think that even if this was my tenth child, I would still be in total amazement and awe at this awesome work of God. The fact that I can feel this little one as he/she moves inside of me is truly amazing! Praise God!!!!
# 4: I got an eye infection on Saturday that caused me to be extremely sensitive to light. This was not so fun as we were on the road most of the day. I spent a good deal of the trip back with my eyes closed. No fun. It's better now, thankfully.
# 3: Joshua got a fever on the way back home. Of course he did. The good thing was that this made him pretty mellow and sleepy for most of the way back. Anna Bell, was not sleepy however. She REALLY wanted to wear my sunglasses for a good bit of the trip. I could not let her because of the eye troubles. She of course, did not understand this.
# 2: Joshua decided to ride on the elevator in the hotel ALL BY HIMSELF as we were leaving. Our room was right outside of the elevator and on the fourth floor. He and Anna Bell got to take turns all weekend pushing the buttons and I guess that he just got really comfortable with the idea. As we were leaving the room, we weren't paying close enough attention and he stepped right on, pushed the first floor button and down he went! Fred took off down the stairs only to find our little fearless wonder making his way around the lobby!
# 1: Drum role please........ I think that this is the funniest thing of the weekend. Many of you will totally relate to it: So, the hotel bathroom was just big enough to fit AB's pack-in-play which is ideal when traveling with two kids. Joshua's pretty good about going to sleep with us in the room and falling right back asleep if one of us wakes him up. But it really is a lot better if we can put Anna Bell in another room. This works pretty well. The only annoying thing is that you have to go down to the lobby to use the bathroom, which is inconvenient, but it works. ...Except for Friday night when Fred didn't get back from the rehearsal deal until 11:30. By 10:00, I really had to go to the bathroom. I couldn't leave and go down three floors with both kids in the room. So: I did what any resourceful mom would do- I peed in a diaper! Ha!!!!

All in all, it was a great weekend...but I'm really glad to be home for a while!