The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

God is preparing me for something, and apparently it is going to be something *Really Hard*. Like in the movie "I Am Legend" - where the Hero spends the remaining years of his life fighting really scary monsters and tirelessly seeking the cure to save humanity all by himself, even when it seems completely hopeless... you know, God is getting me ready for something simple along those lines.



That's the only way my Boot Camp of a Life makes any sense at all. ;)

The bar has now been set at a completely new height for "The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done".

I used to think I had done some pretty hard things in my life. Bwahahaha!!

I had NO CLUE how easy those things would seem to me today.

I just came through the absolute worst 3 weeks of my entire life. It started 3 weeks ago with one child throwing up ...

I lived through the worst stomach flu I've ever had; which must have been a norovirus or something because it was 6 days per person and took 12 days to run through the whole family. I took care of 6 very sick kids, including a puking baby, while puking myself, all of us running high fevers and with bodies so achy and painful I thought I'd die....

Then, before the last kid was even completely done with the stomach flu, we were hit with the "Real" flu - Seasonal Flu - and within days 4 of my children and I were desperately ill.

For 7 days I ran a very high fever, I hurt so bad I could barely move - muscles on fire, joints screaming. I coughed until I pulled every muscle in my torso... and while doing this, I cared for 6 children.

I literally cannot remember the last time I got more than a half hour of sleep at a time, or the last time I slept without holding a feverish baby or a toddler.

Man. That really sucked.

Now I am mostly recovered. I'm a little concerned that my cough is turning into pneumonia & a double ear infection, but the high fevers and flu symptoms are subsiding. The two youngest girls are still a bit under the weather with it too, but they also seem to be on the upswing. [It was so bad that New Years Eve I really thought the baby might die - she was so feverish and non-responsive and her eyes were swollen and glazed over - I've never seen a kid look so sick - totally terrifying].

And now I have a new standard for the "Hardest Thing".

But you know what? It also instills in me a great sense of confidence. In much the same way that a difficult unmedicated labor and birth can empower a new mother to feel that she can do *anything* if she was able to get through that challenge, this last challenge has left me pretty confident that I CAN handle whatever crisis may loom in our future. Most things are going to seem like a cake walk after this.

I am becoming a Tough Old Bird in the Lord's Refinery - a Bird Tough enough and Fierce enough to raise 6 kids alone and do it really well.

So, you know, don't mind me. I'm just getting my shotgun loaded for the Zombie Invasion... cause ain't nothing gonna get through me to hurt my babies! ;)



[Oooh - and I simply MUST do a Shout Out to my lovely Uber Children. Stuck at home sick for 3 weeks, no school, Christmas and New Years completely canceled for us, no celebrating.... and you'd think they'd be absolute horrors, right? No way! They were AWESOME! I was so proud of them. Things could have been soooo much worse -but they were all so sweet and kind and helpful and well behaved. Just excellent. And my amazing Monkey1 was a TRUE saving Grace for the family this week because she was extremely helpful to me - helping to take care of me while I took care of the sick baby and toddler and 6yo and 8yo - and doing things like making Mac and Cheese for dinner all by herself when I was literally too delirious with fever to get up and do it myself! I am so truly blessed by these amazingly kids!]

God Bless You!