Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

Einstein’s Protege

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Yesterday Christopher had the idea to help the Legumes build a snow guinea pig…I don’t know.

Soon he was poring through a book about animals, pen in hand, making a list of all the other snow creatures they wanted to make. He was so sweet with the girls, showing them pictures, making suggestions and listening to their ideas.

This is what they came up with:

Adult and young croc.
Beaver, Bear, cat, cobra
turtle, Duck & Eggs, mouse,
rabbit, slug, snail,
Squirrel, Worm.

We scrounged around and found a couple empty spray bottles which we filled with water and a few drops of food coloring to color the snow. Then I got the little girls bundled (no small job) and threw them outside. Although it was in the low 30’s – which is now warm for us – the wind was blowing ferociously and I didn’t have a lot of hope they would stay out long. But it was quite some time before I heard a small knock and muffled wailing at the front door. It was Eden who had hurt her hand. Quite a bit later I heard a loud wailing at the back door. This time it was Ren covered with a light dusting of snow, Lydia in tow and Christopher not far behind. He had been throwing snow.

After tending to the needs of the wounded, the indignant and the unrepentant, I chose to be thankful for the thirty minutes of quiet and peace.

Whales, Sharksies, Dragons, Dinosaurs and Snakes

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Oh my.

Eden has been waking up just about every night with a nightmare, despite nearly constant prayers from the entire family and many friends. Several nights ago Paul, the big kids and I all tucked her in and prayed over her. Though she can be one tough Bean she is our pet or “Little Sweetie” as Christopher likes to call her when he isn’t referring to her as a “Little Rascal”.

And now she is fighting a very bad cold with a ferocious cough. Yesterday, in a matter of minutes, she broke out in hives. Her whole face swelled and her body was covered with red inflammations. I called the doctor.

He agreed that it sounded like what I thought and confirmed dosages of medicine. I always ask what would require medical attention. In this case it was extreme difficulty breathing and or vomiting.

Fantastic.

I awoke a little after 2 this morning to the sounds of Paul helping her to the bathroom. She was throwing up. It was really glorified gagging on all the mucous her body was trying to cough up. We got her stable, redosed her with her medicines and gave her a little pineapple to settle her stomach, prayed over her, then tucked her back in with her sister.

Then we fell into bed and I reconsidered our decision. She had awakened the morning before with the same gagging – and that was before the hives had broken out – she was breathing easily and the hives were clearly improving. I was pretty sure she was fine, but I find it difficult to be sure of anything when I am that exhausted and concerned for one of my children.

But there was peace at the bottom so I prayed yet again and then fell asleep.

This morning Eden slept in and when she woke up her hives were almost gone. Now she is taking a nap. Yesterday, several times she prayed spontaneously, “Jesus, please heal my body! Please take my coughs away.”

Today she still feels tired and sick but we are all praying, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”