Sunday, November 18, 2012

I know it has been a few days since I blogged, but we have been really worn out taking care of three sick kids! Chloe and Emma started to feel better Wednesday afternoon but then Emma's fever had spiked again by bedtime. Jeremy checked his last paycheck and saw that he had some sick time accrued and could take off. Early Thursday morning Samuel woke up and came into our room and he was now running a fever! Chloe and I went to school and the other three stayed home. They still have a terrible cough but they seem to be feeling much better. I think Emma is the one that still is fighting with this cold the most. She goes back and forth with a low-grade fever.  On Friday we ALL returned to school. Friday night my parents and my brother came to our house to celebrate Emma's birthday. My parents stayed the night and we all went to the circus! It was at the United Center and it was really fun despite the fact that it was in a building and not under a tent (do they even have circus under tents anymore? ) The kids had fun and I wish I could have got more pictures but it was too dark in the building and the pictures did not turn out good. There were lots of acts that made us all nervous and there was one act with the lion tamer except he had one lion, 3 tigers, and 3 or 4 lionesses. This act got a little crazy because one of the animals seemed a little unhappy about being in the show. At one point Jeremy leaned over and told me to be ready to cover the kids eyes!:) The last act was the motorcycles riding in the big metal ball. I knew Sam would love this one, but I had no idea how excited he would be! They started out with 5 riders in the ball, then they added 2 more riders, and ended with adding one more rider. Sam's face was priceless!! I guess Chloe got a little bored with the circus and was actually asleep during this act.:) My parents went back home and we went home and all took a nap. This morning we went to church and then ate lunch and now some are napping and Sam and I just finished working on his make-up homework. I am looking forward to a three day week and heading down to my parents for Thanksgiving!

I think it is a combination of things, but I would ask that you would pray for my emotional state these days. I love living in Chicago, I really do. I know with every ounce in my being that we are where God has called us to be and it happens to be an amazing city, but I am homesick for my little country house and my little Christian school and mostly all my support system back in TN. I am struggling and I really need to connect and find a good friend here. So as childish as this may sound, it has not helped that the final Twilight movie has come out this past weekend and I do not have any one to go see it with and it makes me sad. I know it is a silly storyline and many think it is ridiculous, but I love them because it connected me with some of my greatest friends a girl could ask for and it makes me miss them more than imaginable. Jeremy asked me today if I was going to be sad until I saw the movie and it caught me off guard. He said I get sad every time I see a billboard or anything about the movie. I told him I am not sad because of the movie, I am sad that I have no friends to see it with! I also miss the prayer meetings we would have before school and I had at least 2 or 3 precious ladies that I could share my burdens with and we would pray together and that would encourage me daily. It has been so heavy on my heart that nobody has decided to join us in Chicago. It is heart aching to know that God is speaking to some families about coming to Chicago and they will not take the step of faith. I am really praying that God would remove those comfort zones and that those that need to be up here with us will make that decision. I know better than anybody that it is not easy to leave everything behind, but God never told us it would be easy. We are not called to a life of comfort and ease but a life of obedience. Okay, sorry did not mean to preach, but truthfully I believe this is part of the problem of completely living a radical life to follow Christ. I also realize that this season of loneliness comes with it, but I would ask you to pray for me.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

McDonald's before the circus:)



Sound asleep during the circus:)