For the last week or so, the kids have been battling some kind of cold. It got so bad that Micah got croup last week.
Luckily Karis had her annual check (YEAH, No Shots!!, and still growing, she’ in the 75 percentile in everything) the next day, so we took Micah along. Nurses & Doctor were able to check him out – he still had a low-grade fever and was coughing plenty. Doctor gave him an oral steroid. Mom promised those two a Happy Meal, so that’s where we went afterwards (thank the Lord for drive-throughs). The hardest part of the visit was trying to keep the face mask (like the surgery masks) on Micah (that is the rule at the doctors office if you have a fever or cough). Yeah for bribery & Happy meals.
Well, this week all three boys have post-nasal drip and throat coughs because of that. They’re all getting better, and their bodies are working great at getting that stuff out. Reuben woke up last night just crying…took a while to calm him down. What it boils down to is with his nose all stopped-up, he can’t breath out 
of it and therefore can’t pacify/comfort himself. He is our FIRST AND ONLY THUMB-SUCKER. Which is a blessing, we have been greatly thankful to him and God for blessing us with a thumb-sucker, after both Josiah & Karis were pacifier babies. Wow, waking up often because they couldn’t find their pacifier that fell out of their mouths after they relaxed and fell asleep…ugh. Sometimes it got to the point where we were putting 3-4 pacifiers around them so if they moved slightly they felt one and popped it in on their own, sometimes.
Then the two other boys woke-up at 6am, ready to go. Well, actually Josiah woke-up and in a not so quiet voice asked, “Can I get up now.” To which I responded, “Shhh, it’s an hour before we usually wake-up, and be quiet as Micah is still sleeping.” To which he responds 
a little louder and in a more whinny voice, “But I really want to play downstairs.”. And then Micah pops up and says, “I want to go down and play too.” And their tired father responds, “Fine go, but be quiet like mice, no fighting or crying, only kind words and be loving to each other. Oh, and go potty first.” I then role over to fall back asleep and 20 minutes later at awakened to Micah crying…ugh. So much for sleep.
I got to preach last Sunday on the Gospel lesson, Mark 1:21-28, and had one of my main premises (is that a word? what is the plural of premise? premisi? premisai?) was how Jesus doesn’t seem upset when the demoniac disrupted His teaching and the church service. It seems as though He welcomed it, in order to support/back-up His already refreshingly authoritative teaching. (And in Mark there is a lot of this, authoritative teaching and then a miracle.) I talked about how we hate having OUR schedules, comfort, and lives disrupted. The big finish was asking, “Does Jesus mind when we disrupt him? No, No He doesn’t, in fact he welcomes it (a.k.a. prayer)” But maybe a better question is, “Do we mind being disrupted by Him?”
So, my night & sleep were disrupted, but I love my family, and the joy they bring to me.
One of the coolest parts of this day so far, was after breakfast walking outside with Reuben and hearing (& seeing) lot’s and lot’s of birds singing. It was so nice. Thanks for teaching me again God, and thanks for the rewards.
Cup Overflowing 