Tumbles and Tantrums

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."  

~Philippians 4:6

This is our final night at Ronald McDonald House (RMH).  Tonight I am blessed to be surrounded by the people I love most in this world; my family.  There are three kiddos sleeping on the floor, one on a cot, my husband is in a twin bed, and I have a little cuddle bug cozily snuggling up next to me on the pull out couch.  The room is filled with sounds of deep breathing, snoring, the whirring of a fan, and silence.  This is my favorite time of day.  I love my children, but I love quiet time too!  There has not been much of that in my life lately, so I am thankful for every tiny moment of quiet.

As I write this evening, I am slightly anxious about tomorrow because I have so much to do.  For various reasons we are leaving RMH tomorrow even though Haven still has one more day of day therapy on Friday.  The main reason we chose to leave is due to the fact that there are many other families waiting for our spot here at RMH.  By vacating tomorrow, another family who needs it more than we do can have peace of mind.  Also, Aaron is here with me tomorrow, so I have a great deal of help packing the van and cleaning our room/bathroom before it's time to leave. I am at peace with the decision to depart a day early, but not at peace with the amount of work that needs to be completed before tomorrow is through.  I need to pack up all of our junk here, clean the room, and unpack the junk at home tomorrow.  Whew!  I think tomorrow will be a pizza night at the Walker's.  

Today was an emotional roller coaster for me.  Haven was measured for some orthodic inserts for her shoes on Monday to help with some minor foot issues she is having.  Today she used them for the first time.  I think they were a bit difficult for her to get used to because she fell alot more than  normal today.  At lunchtime here at RMH, Haven stumbled backward, tried to catch a wooden chair to correct herself, and ended up falling down, hitting her head on the wood floor, and pulling the chair onto herself in the process.  She has two nice sized bruises on her forehead now.  I'm  thankful she didn't need to go to the ER for stitches or a concussion!  

Our schedule was weird today too.  Haven had two hours of therapy in the morning, a two hour lunch break, and then two more hours of therapy in the afternoon.  She was uncooperative during some of her sessions today.  I realized that she was trying to use me to get out of doing her therapy when she crawled onto my lap to give me hugs and kisses during occupational therapy, so I ended up leaving her alone with the therapist today.  It helped her to work better, so I'm glad I left.  It seemed weird to leave her after all of the times that I've been in the sessions with her, but today she did better without me there.  Unfortunately, that meant that I didn't get to see her therapists work with her.  I like to watch so I'll know how to help her at home.  

You can tell your child is feeling better when you need to start disciplining them again.  Haven became so disagreeable today that I had to correct her several times.  Obviously she is pushing me to see if the pre-surgery boundaries I set are still in effect.  Several times today I assured her that nothing has changed.  I'm so thankful she's feeling better, but I have not missed our daily 'battles of the will'.  

Eden started feeling ill yesterday.  Today she was pretty miserable with her stuffy nose and tired body.  I encouraged her to use every opportunity she could get for resting.  Aaron brought her allergy medication this evening.  I think she'll feel much better in the next day or two.

Today was my mom's birthday, so we left Akron and headed for dinner at Papa Bear's in Canton.  It was nice to leave Akron for awhile.  It was nice to see my mom, dad, and grandmother too.  What a blessing to have had the support of my family throughout this trial.  What a fun night we had too!

Sorry for the basic information tonight.  I'll try to do better another time, but for this night, I'm headed to bed.  I'm tired from our busy day full of tumbles and tantrums.  I'm so thankful for God's grace that he provides each day.