What a week

So we’re on week 3 as “The Jackson 5” as someone recently labeled us.  It wasn’t at all what I thought week 3 would be like.  It started well… Joel’s sister, Bekah was here till Monday and we totally enjoyed her visit until sickness hit our home on Monday and well, Bekah can vouch for me on this, the boys and Kate all turned on me!!  It was a tough day. Jack started getting sick, Kate decided that she would forget how to nurse, and Owen, well, he’s two.  I should have taken heed and planted my feet firmly that day in anticipation of the week to come but little did I know what lay ahead. 

 

Jack continued to get worse and ended up with what I think is the H1N1 virus.  Fever, aches, severe congestion, cough, sore throat, etc.  We quarantined him in the guest room with movies, water, tea, and snacks.  He hated it but complied partly because he didn’t have the energy to fight us.  It’s Friday and he’s a bit better but I’m blowing his nose every 10 minutes, he’s coughing like crazy and he’s enjoying taking ever liberty he can under the guise of “but Mommy I’m really sick”.

 

Owen came down with the same symptoms on Wednesday, and despite our efforts to separate he and Jack, he is now battling even higher temps and all the same yuckies.  Poor guy sounds like an old man and looks as bad as he sounds.

 

Kate is boycotting nursing and is teaching me another lesson that I should have seen coming.  Just because something goes well with the first two kids doesn’t mean it will go well with the third.  There are just no guarantees!  I hate learning these lessons!  She’s also getting a bit of a cough and no matter what number kid she is, seeing your tiny baby not feeling well is one of the hardest things to see and worry about.

 

So I thought we’d be back into a routine by this time.  The boys would be in school again and feeling secure because their lives continued as normal, Kate would be settling in to life outside my belly, eating well, sleeping well, and feeling secure because it’s all working like clockwork, and that I’d be back to work, enjoying the 2 hours of adultness I get in my office each day, and feeling secure because my family is healthy and happy.  Instead we spent each day at home, spraying Lysol obsessively, washing every piece of bedding in the house, wiping noses, covering coughs, disciplining kids who are a bit more naughty than usual and fighting occasional tears when I felt completely overwhelmed with three kids! 

 

BUT, and well for  any of you who know what the last few years of my life have been about, I had a moment of truth happen yesterday.  I was at a point where I was ready to ask God, WHY?  Why isn’t Kate nursing well, why would he let the boys get sick now just weeks after Kate was born, the week I hoped to go back to work, why did Owen get sick after I tried so hard to keep him separate from Jack, why, why, why???  Then it hit me, quickly I might add, that those three letters make up a word that I learned about 2 years ago, is not mine to ask of my Creator, Savior and Heavenly Father.  He alone knows the answer and my role is simply to trust Him and let whatever circumstances He has allowed me to face to draw me closer to Him and to conform me into His image.  It was a great relief to realize this before I chose to walk down that road.  God is gracious and I admit it was He who brought this to mind.  It is a testimony of His grace that God taught me all He did these past two years that I could even recognize His “voice” and trust Him.

 

So at the end of a very difficult week, I write this to admit, it was hard but we survived and I’m hopeful… next week could be just as bad BUT GOD!  And by His Grace!

 

Joel and Bethany Potter

Missionaries with New Tribes Mission

1211 Homewild Ave.

Jackson, MI. 29201

517-795-9053

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