Tuesday, February 24, 2009

More little blessings in disguise

God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. He truly does. I was meeting with a lady I do a bible study with a few weeks back, and I asked that she pray that I remain close to God - that I depend on Him in good times and in bad. And that I talk with Him daily (which is so much easier to do when you are begging for this that and the other, but sometimes harder to remember to do when things are going well). Anyway, well, He answered her prayer with a stomach virus!

The Durika family got hit with the stomach bug - and hit hard. Joe had it first (see my other blog). Then Josh got it - but when we thought he was better, he got sick again - and again - and again - and again - for 7 days straight. And then things got back to normal - he went to daycare, I went to work. Then uh-oh I got it!

We're finally on the mend and we're all well - thank You God for that! But during that time, I leaned on Him, I thanked Him for the good things and prayed for the bad things. I learned alot about being a mom to Josh because I had him home with me for 7 days (longest time of one on one since my maternity leave with him almost two years ago!). I cared for him, I nurtured him and I mothered him. All the things that I busy myself with usually, had to wait. And even then, I was thankful for that time with my son. God taught Joe and I about disappointment (missing v-day, missing the marriage conference we had tickets for, etc.), team work, and love.

We're all better now, and again, every morning, I thank God for that. It's a little thing to be thankful for I guess, but God appreciates all the thanks that I give (big and little!) And I praise Him for all He's done.

Another thing that God did for me throughout these past two weeks, is that, remember my blog about my struggle with my weight? Well, as a result of all this illness, I lost the weight that I was struggling with. I believe I will maintain it too. But even if I don't, you know what God showed me? That those little five lbs don't make that much difference, and they certainly shouldn't be the reason I'm happy or sad each day. They really shouldn't.

So praise God for tummy bugs and all that a round (or two or three!) of illness can do for a person (both inside and out!).

Thursday, February 12, 2009

100 days, Stomach Bug round two and Stinkbugs!


Tuesday was Tommy's 100 day party at school and I was blessed to be able to come for a little bit to enjoy the festivities. He had a great time making crafts, "hash" (like chex mix sort of) and sharing his 100 items (he chose to bring in 100 pictures that he had drawn!)


Joshie started with the stomach bug yesterday morning and puked about
fifteen times by the time it was all said and done. But he seems to be better now after a long day yesterday. He ate some today and has kept about half a liter of Pedialyte down.





He's almost back on schedule today and is napping now. Seems like he'll be back at daycare tomorrow for his Valentines Day party at "school". Now I'm praying that I and Tommy don't get it - so far so good.



While at Tommy's school on Tuesday, there was this whole discussion about Stink Bugs. And I remember my Grandmother asking me if we had stink bugs (she's from PA) and I had no idea if we had them or not. Then the light bulb went off - stink bugs were these nasty looking bugs that I keep asking Joe to kill. And sure enough, I googled them, and then saw this in the boys bathroom (in Tommy's goggles!):



Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Child Dedication . . . and the stomach bug


On February 8, 2009 we dedicated our children, Tommy (5 1/2) and Joshua (21 months) to the Lord. This dedication meant that we promised to raise them up in the presence of God, and that we would instill our beliefs and our relationship with God, in them. At least, that's my take on it! :-) Basically, we've committed our lives to God and having a relationship with Him, and now we've dedicated to teaching our children this and bringing them up God's love.

The day went well. We went to 2nd service like normal, but my parents joined us. It was nice that the service was part 2 of the marriage series, and this week was about "Lasting Love". After service we went out to lunch and then came back for the child dedication service at 2pm. Josh did great without a nap (he took one when we got home) and the day was very nice all around.

Of course cookies and juice afterwards is always nice too!

Then Monday night Joe got the stomach flu. He is MISERABLE. I can imagine, I've had it three times in the last few years. It's yucky. And I am praying that we don't get it. It would ruin Valentine's Day for the boys (they both have parties at school that they would miss - Josh already missed his Halloween party due to the stomach bug in the fall)). And Joe and I are supposed to go to the Marriage conference at church with Shaunti Feldhahn on Friday night and Saturday. I would be so sad. But cleaning puke off the toilet at 10pm and not getting a good nights sleep for two nights in a row (Tommy was sick with a cold on Sunday night) certainly will lower my immune system. Plus, I'm fanatical about hand washing, and Joe isn't. So he's banished to the bedroom.

I'm hoping I can snap out of the worry about all of us getting sick (and all the cleaning and laundry associated with puking kids) and try to take care of him today.

Today is also Tommy's 100 day party at school, which I'm supposed to go to. We'll see what happens.


Friday, February 6, 2009

Why is my happiness tied to this?

Ok, so I enjoy working out. I try to workout four days a week. And I'm also trying to lose these last 5 lbs.

And I got as low as being 4 lbs away from my goal. Then Wednesday came. I ate excellent Chinese food at a working lunch and then ate a TV dinner for dinner. The next day, it was not good. I figured, water weight from all the sodium. So why, two more days later, have I mysteriously gained 3lbs. And even more so, why do I tie the scale number to my happiness? It's rediculous. I get mad at myself for letting the stupid little number on the scale first thing in the morning, define my mood for the day. Yet, it does, every morning.

And why has there been this shift - 9 years ago when I was over 250lbs, my hapiness wasn't tied to my weight. But I was HAPPY. And now, since I have this "ideal" of being 5 lbs lighter, it encompasses my every thought and it destroys me some days.

Anyway there's this song and I can't remember what it's called or who sings it (lot of help I am eh?) but it's about how God thinks we're beautiful just as we are. Which is true. And I LOVE that song every time I hear it - too bad I can't remember more about it now. I finally heard the song again - it's "Free To Be Me" by Francesca Battistelli!!

I guess I need to pray about it and let go and let God take it over. Not that I would ask Him to remove these 5 lbs, but that I wouldn't let it control me.

Experiments in Blogging

So this is my first blog. I've done blogging in myspace, but this is my first attempt at all out blogging. I like this kind of thing.

So, about me. I'm the wife of one, mother of two. I have a WONDERFUL husband who I adore and who adores me. And together we have two boys! Tommy is currently 5 and Josh is currently 1 1/2. They are very energetic, wonderful, special and unique little boys!

Here are the "men" in my life: