Hand it Over

I have decided tonight to completely ignore the load of whites in the dryer that need to be folded and the sink full of dishes leftover from dinner that need to be washed, because I need therapy. This whole blogging thing really is therapeutic and actually a little addictive.
This great need for therapy stems from last Tuesday morning. Out of the blue, I woke up with Bells Palsy. Sunday, a week ago, I had began experiencing a really bad earache never ceasing through Monday night. When I woke up on Tuesday morning I got straight into a shower as usual, and noticed that my right eye felt really weird. I got out and looked in the mirror and discovered that the right side of my face wouldn't move. I couldn't smile normally or blink my right eye. Naturally I go into freak out mode - thinking I have had a stroke or my ear infection is blocking a vein or something to my face that's going to make my whole face stop moving.
After a quick trip to Urgent Care I discovered that my diagnosis was in fact, Bells Palsy.
Bells Palsy Info.
It's actually quite common, little did I know.
The doctor put me on a steroid, Prednisone and an antibiotic, Acyclovir. And told me that MOST people return back to normal with complete facial function after 10 to 14 days.
Through this whole week I have been at war with myself.
When will this go away? What if it doesn't go back to normal? Why has God put me through this? Did I do something to deserve this? Am I not thankful enough for my health?
This week is my last week at work. Wednesday will be my last day, and all I can think of is how much I hate seeing these people who I won't see for a while- the way I am now. When I smile, I look like Elvis. I can only imagine the things going through their minds when they look at me. "Why did she make that face? Did I offend her? What's wrong with her?"
It's all very very frustrating.
After our sermon at church this morning and then talking it over with Chris this afternoon, I've really come to terms with this disease. Why would God put me through this? - because - he wants to be glorified in my healing. No one deserves the things that happen to them - they all happen for a reason. I know that everything we go through makes us stronger.
For now I have not seen a whole lot of improvement from Tuesday. I am able to close my right eye, not completely but almost. I still lack the ability to smile, taste things with the right side of my tongue, sip out of a straw normally, rub my lips together with chapstick, etc. Little things that I just took for granted - I now long to have back.
But God has a greater purpose than I can realize right now, and that is that. For now - I hang in there, have faith and give it to God. Because HE heals!!

Everyday an Adventure

We had planned on Saturday to have a photographer take family portraits of us for Christmas. We all know how when you 'plan' something, it always, well I won't say always, but sometimes will fall through. And, well....That's what happened.

We wanted to get pictures done this weekend so that we could go ahead and order Christmas cards to ship out this week. So - we just decided we would get dressed up in the clothes we had planned to wear and take the pictures ourselves.

It was fun needless to say.....Totally more work than it was worth.

Braeden running away, Izzy totally distracted.

Oh I know this is going to be bad...





Daddy making noises to get the kids to smile, but instead it makes them look at him...

This one's not so bad, but just having the chair in the backdrop instead of more of the Christmas tree, irks me a little bit.

Oh, I give up. And now have a headache.

I think this one is the best one we came up with. Even though Chris' face is a little blurred, his feet are in here and neither kids are smiling.

It looks like next year we might just go with plain ole' Christmas cards with no picture.

Differences

Well one thing that I've noticed these first couple days of being at home is how different my children are. Here is a picture of Izzy eating her lunch yesterday. She is ALL about NOT making a mess. And if she does get sticky, mess or gookeyness on her fingers - she freaks out! Literally freaks out until we get her clean.

My other child; however, wears it everywhere. Doesn't matter if it's on his face, his hands, in his hair - he could care less. As long as some gets in his mouth, he's happy.

We never had an issue with Izzy climbing things either. It seems as though boys must have a natural instinct to want to see what is at the top. And chairs are NOT meant for sitting. They are clearly made for standing, jumping, dancing, etc.




And lets mention the toilet. Yesterday Braeden discovered that you can lift the lid and put things in. We lost 2 bubble wands to the trash and were 2 seconds shy of losing the ipod - thankfully I got there quickly.

At the risk of embarassing my son one day - the one thing that my children have in common is dress up. When Izzy dresses up, Braeden has to dress up too. Here is Izzy wearing purple hair while Braeden rocks his blue hair - and a pink bracelet in his mouth. :)











Needless to say, I have not lacked for amusement these past 3 days.
It has all been worthwhile - this transition. Thursday morning Izzy made that very clear when after praying for her breakfast she prayed, "and thank you for letting mommy stay home with me today". - Broke my heart!!! and brought tears to my eyes!

And then today I was in the kitchen and I could hear Izzy singing in her room. I thought I could hear her singing the song that we had been practicing to learn a Bible verse, "Jesus is the Son of God - Acts 9:20" but I couldn't tell. When I got to her doorway she stopped singing and just mumbled and when I asked her to sing it for me again - she did. And it was totally what we had been learning since Tuesday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YfKoyPgIVs&feature=youtube_gdata_player


On a side note - please keep my mom in your prayers this weekend. She will be having her gall bladder surgery on Monday morning in Charlotte. With any hospital stay comes anxiety so please remember her and our family. Love you all!!