When Sickness Sets In…

Where we live, this week has been spring break for the college my husband attends, as well as the public school system my kids are part of with the homeschool academy.

 

What perfect timing, right?

 

It sure would have been, had everyone been healthy. Then again, God has his ways, and everyone being sick this week is for the best. Better now, when there are no assignments and deadlines than last week, or next week, when everyone has assignments and field trips and papers.

We had hoped to go to Missouri, visit my in-laws, see the Arch. My in-laws are sick, too. (Pray for them!) Since Missouri was no longer an option, we thought about where locally we could go…then one by one, my kids fell ill. We actually spent a good portion of last Friday in the pediatrician’s office, and then the ER, with our 7yr old daughter. Her breathing was so labored, we needed good meds and breathing treatments to help her. (Who would have thought that in 9.5 years of parenting, it would be girls to have us in the ER before the boys?! So far, no broken bones or cracked skulls…just illnesses worthy of ER attention.)

With spring break left for recovering, what would we do? What do you do when the family gets sick?

I have stayed busy, and so far, have not done a single bit of lesson planning for the rest of the school year, like I hoped. It’s actually the #1 think on my “most important things” to-do list, but when kids are sick, they trump all things on the to-do list.

We have:

-done about a dozen nebulizer treatments

-watched Frozen, more than once (but I still haven’t seen enough of it to know what is going on)

-played Wii (not me, just the kids)

-decluttered kids’ bedrooms on days when they felt good

-played outside when we thought the germs were gone, and energy levels were up

-read more of The King of the Golden City

-baked and had a tea party

-taken thank you notes to a neighbor who baked us gluten-free goodies, knowing the kids were sick

-drank more quarts of tea than I can count

-ran lots of hot water for steamy bathrooms to soothe gross coughs

-moved the baby out of our room into his own space

 

Being sick is the pits. Getting bored while being sick is also the pits. Today our oldest is sick, now…so this week-long illness in the house is just continuing. It’s hard when the kids are sick enough to avoid fun like museums and trips…but not sick enough to sleep it off all day and night. The boredom is almost crushing now, and joy-sucking. The Wii is no longer a great option, because the whining and arguing has set in. Movies are getting old.

So. What do you do when boredom threatens to make everyone crabby, miserable, and hard-to-live-with?

I have no idea.

I’m going to escape the house for a bit and get some groceries.

I pulled out some stickers and craft sticks, so maybe we’ll get crafty. We have more to read in The King of the Golden City. Maybe I’ll dig up a few easy and fun Pinterest ideas…

And one of these days, I’ll get to my lesson-planning. In the meantime, even though I’m exhausted, the kids are still coughing, and I need to get groceries, again…I am going to find the joy in the day, the joy in the life God has given me.

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