The flu epidemic rages on. Can I call it an epidemic if our whole family has it and our whole family is larger than the average American family? Let’s see, dictionary.com defines epidemic as affecting many persons at the same time, and spreading from person to person. That sounds about right for us.
Daniel and David strategize the best way to beat this flu.
Actually it’s hardly raging. Most everyone is feeling close to normal (as if that ever meant anything in our family). The coughing, however, continues. This morning we were a family symphony of coughs. It was truly remarkable – harmony and everything. We could be the Von Duckabush Family Coughers. That’s a pretty catchy title. Of course, ‘catchy’ might be a little too apt with all the germs flying around.
“David, if we move the tissue boxes here, the cold medicine there, and the soldiers over here, this ridge would be completely impenetrable and the flu defeated!”
We stayed home from church today. The weekend feels very odd when Sunday is no different from Saturday. Where’s that adrenaline rush in the morning as we shove food down the kids’ throats while gathering shoes and Bibles; brushing hair, all at the same time? What about the pretty dresses with messy hair? It is so hard to find a brush or comb on Sunday morning – I think they all sneak and hide Saturday night just to watch me scurry on Sunday. And then there are the handsome boys in their nice outfits complete with dirty tennis shoes. Sigh. The dress shoes obviously hide with the hair brushes.
See what I mean? This girl NEEDS a brush. It’s a good thing her smile is so big – distracts you from the wispy hair.
We managed to sniffle and cough our way through a nice family church service. We didn’t sing – wouldn’t be pretty with all the hoarse voices – but we did read a chapter of Proverbs together. I LOVE studying Proverbs with the children. It has brought such a richness and, dare I say it, WISDOM to our family. Today we read Proverbs 15. I know, it’s the 18th and technically we should be reading Proverbs 18 but we’re behind. This darn flu! Tim thought we should throw caution to the wind and go back and read one of the chapters we missed. He lives dangerously even when stricken with flu/allergies.
You can see by the look on her face that Rachel is wondering if we are going to read Proverbs 16, 17, 18 AND 19 tomorrow. Yikes! That would be SOME catching up.
All of the children (even David and Sarah, ages 6 and 4 1/2) are wonderful pray-ers. They are unabashed (unless there is company present) about lifting their prayers up to the Lord. It is amazing to me to see how mature and faithful they are in speaking to God. Our family prayer time, however, usually consists mostly of thanksgiving and requests. Nothing wrong with this but it does neglect some other aspects of prayer. When I meet with my homeschooling Moms In Touch prayer group, we pray very specifically through the ACTS model.
Adoration - praising God for WHO He is
Confession - confessing to God our sins (commission and omission)
Thanksgiving - thanking God for what He has given us and what He is doing in our lives
Supplication - lifting our requests before the Lord
I love praying this way as it focuses me on the attributes of God, gives me an opportunity to open my heart up to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and puts my requests and wants last. By the time I finally begin asking God for something, my spirit is much more in tune with who He is and what He wants for my life and the people around me.
I have been wanting to try praying this way with the children for some time but, like many good intentions, never seemed to get around to it. The night time chapter/Bible reading is Tim’s special evening time with the kids and it would be a little heavy handed for me to charge in and tell them all we’re going to pray MY WAY. That, and I’m usually enjoying some well deserved peaceful, quiet time while Tim reads to the children. One of those explanations sound like I am being sensitive and the other lazy. Hmmm.
What an awesome big brother to push his sister on the swing (completely on his own initiative)!
Today I decided to seize the moment and explain the ACTS prayer model to the children so we could try it as a family (the younger two were upstairs playing at this point). Tim suggested going around and each person praying just one thing. We had a wonderful time of prayer. The kids all seemed to understand the concept of praising and adoring God (difficult to do as we tend to focus on what God gives us rather than who He is. I made sure everyone knew the confession time could be silent but both Tim and Rachel prayed out loud.
How kind of God to bless our sick Sunday with some special time reading His Word and praying with the children! He is so good to us.
In the afternoon I snuck in a workout at the Y with a friend. We ran all sorts of errands on the way home, ending at the produce store nearby. I LOVE going to this little produce store. It just makes me happy walking in and seeing all the fruits and veggies. My family think I am a bit addled in the brain this way but I can’t resist all the tables full of unusual and interesting produce. Plus, some of the prices are great. Healthy food and low costs – doesn’t that make everyone happy? Who needs chocolate? Don’t answer that!
It was so pretty when I got home that I suggested to the kids we go to the park. They were all VERY eager to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Daniel had some sibling trouble so he ended up staying home with Tim as punishment. The rest of us enjoyed the park although it was a bit crowded. I told David he had to stay with a brother or sister while I watched over Sarah. It was so fun catching glimpses of him chasing after Joshua and Rachel. He is NOT one who is going to be left behind.
This climb was a bit much for Joshua!
Tomorrow we do school and, hopefully, continue to recover. This evening at bedtime, I gave out cough medicine all around. Hopefully the children (and Tim) will get some relief and be able to sleep. I think I need a little cold medicine myself. Sniffle, sniffle.
Pass the tissues!
Kathy
Oh, Kathy, you sure have had a long week with your illnesses. Glad to see everyone with smiling faces, albeit coughing faces.
I love your blog!
Thanks, Debbie! My oldest wonders how long we’ll be sick and whether he can go to middle school youth group on Wednesday (crucial question). I start off with just a short little blog and it always seems to evolve into something LONG and wordy.
Hope everyone’s feeling well soon. Sounds like a pretty nice, restful Sunday despite illness. What a great idea to do the ACTS with your kids.
Rachel – I’ve been wanting to try ACTS with the kids for a long time. They are such effortless pray-ers already that I’ve been eager to add another dimension to their praying. It’s amazing how they are all growing up! I LOVE babies and little ones but older children bring all sorts of new depth and interest to the parenting relationship. ha!