Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Counting my blessings

I am so thankful to be past the baby stage. I love, love, love my full-night's sleep, and I love, love, love having children that can (to some degree) let me know what is wrong. Toddlers can be such a blessing. God uses bad times to remind us of our blessings.

Last night was a bad time. My 21-month-old son woke up crying, and after a few moments, I realized he wasn't going to roll over and fall back asleep. It sounded like an "I lost my teddy" cry, so I was just going to search the floor by his bed, put it in his hand, pat his back, and go back to bed. Nope. When I opened the door to his room, the smell overwhelmed me. He had thrown up. I had this fleeting thought that I should close the door and keep him quarantined to keep any stomach bug from infecting the rest of us, then I wondered if I could get through the clean-up without getting sick myself! Knowing my responsibility had to be stronger than my revulsion, I turned on the light and went in to survey the damage. Yes, teddy was nearly invisible, "bee-ket" was in bad shape, and my son was covered head-to-toe. Ugh. Time to yell into the baby monitor to wake up DH. Together we were able to get DS back to bed as quickly and calmly as possible.

Yes, last night was a bad time. But today, DS is running, jumping, and laughing with his brother. Yesterday he was running, jumping, and laughing with his brother. Was he sick? Did he eat something that didn't agree with him? Did he get choked on something? The mystery remains. But instead of lamenting over the bookcase that he just emptied out on the floor, today I am able to rejoice that he is feeling well enough to make a horrific mess. Yes, God most certainly does use bad times to remind us of our blessings.

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