What can I say about the past two weeks?….I’m currently headach-ing so I can’t remember specifics about two weeks ago so pardon me if I meld it in the current week that’s passed.

Our fearless directors visited Israel for 7 days and if you think a lot cannot happen in seven days, you haven’t lived for very long. We also have a week long vacation for kids in the 4th grade and younger….Yay!! Yay!?  (insert fake smile……parents you’ll understand).

Well the week they left actually started alright, things were going ok, but I had some personal conflicts with someone that you can pray about.

I made Peanut butter cookies for a Bible study with the teen girls here, and for the first time in my adult life (that I can remember) I burned two whole pans of cookies. One I was able to partly salvage, the other……not so much.  It was terrible. I wasn’t sure what to do with my life. 😉 Thankfully one pan was perfect. Well….at least I knew I could eat peanut butter cookies while I sorted it all out. The Bible study went well by the way. We are taking the BRAVE album by Moriah Peters, and watching the music/lyric videos, finding scriptures that are about being BRAVE and applying that to our lives. They’ve got to memorize scripture with me too and at the end whoever memorizes the most accurately will receive the album. I’m excited.

I also got to take three of the boys from the home with Camille and we went to see a bunch of little cuddly puppies. The owner just had a new baby herself and just couldn’t take care of all the new puppies, so she was giving them away for free. It was one of the hardest things to walk away without one. AH. Imagine the scene “It’s so fluffy I wanna die!” (or if you can’t imagine, click here to get an idea….HERE!)

Then, BAM Sunday night, after a great GREAT Sunday, I felt so sick. I warned the kids that if I passed out, not to worry, but to just go get help from the staff next door. My body then decided to vacate everything inside. It was horrible. Six of us got sick. Still not sure what it was, but I’m still recovering…

The kids were sweet and the next day when I was at least to sitting up stage, Camille kept hugging me randomly. I think she was pretty concerned. Hudson too was very sweet, and helped get me water a few times, as well as helped Camille get up in the morning when the best I could do was slump downstairs.

Single-parents……..I’m marveling…..have been for months now. I always did before, but seriously you’ve got WAY more respect from this gal than ever before.

As I was finally feeling good enough to join the rest of the clan at the care home, I happily walked into the bathroom to discover a mouse. Still alive. In my garbage. Yes. I most definitely shuddered and walked as quickly as I could out of the bathroom wondering which of my kids I could bribe to get it out of the house safely and without touching it. Realizing that wasn’t an option I had, I put the lid on and carried it to the dogs outside. Hudson (after telling me we should kill it with a knife) pleaded for it’s life to be spared. I told him I would sacrifice it to the dogs, and if God chose to shut their mouths like the lions in the den, so be it. Not sure what happened to the mouse but…..I found another one in my house later that afternoon that is still on the loose. The one that got away. Not thrilled about this. Hudson more than any of us was so scared about the mouse coming into his room that he had to sleep with the light on for a while. We had to kick and rattle every drawer and closet to see if it was in there just so they would go in their beds. Honestly that part was both fun and terrifying. I’m not certain who would have gotten out of the room first.

Anyway. All this to say, the week is over, our directors are home and safe, and I’m finally able to spend time outside of my bed. Praise the Lord! Despite all the craziness of the week, which I didn’t even START to scratch, I was reminded that God is not surprised by the things we do or the things that happen to us. It says in Psalms that he knows the words of our mouth even before we do. That he knows our thoughts, where we go and where we stay, and that there is no where we can be out of His reach.  This was so comforting, as I laid in bed sick, with kids that mocked me and feeling quite completely alone….He was there with me. He was reminding me of his presence, that He is ultimately the One who watches and cares for the children AND me, and that I need to trust Him. That’s it. Just trust Him.

Hopefully you laughed a little with me through this week and can laugh and pray with me in the coming week. Thanks for journeying with me!