Hard To Be Blue Around Her

A few days ago, Juliette staggered into my bedroom in the dusky morning light, with droopy, barely open eyes, whining for "blue strawberries".  She curled up with me under the comforter and fell fast asleep again.  I wrote off her comment as sleepy jibber-jabber, and returned to dreaming myself.  In what seemed like a blink of an eye, but what was probably about 45 minutes later, she woke me again asking for "blue strawberries".  I rubbed my eyes and processed as fast as my pre-breakfast brain could.  Blue strawberries . . . blue strawberries . . . blue strawberries.  Aha!  Blue strawberries = blueberries.  Of course.  Breakfast is always better with some "blue strawberries"!  That girl sure has taste.

Ogunquit

  On the hour and half drive from Boston, we had quite a discussion on how to pronounce the name.

I made the bed and breakfast owner say it several times.

I'm still not sure I have it right.

But they served a yummy wild blueberry bandana, and Seth got his Maine lobster. 

I guess I'll just have to go back to Ogunquit again someday - a person's got to learn how to pronounce the places they've been. 

Boston and My Beloved

Seth had a conference in Boston at the beginning of March, so we decided that I would go with him.  With his crazy work/school schedule we needed a little time away together.  Our in-laws were kind enough to agree to take Juliette for the week, so we took a few extra days to enjoy the town - and of course hang out with my sweet sister Courtney.  It was a real treat, because last time I had been there was to help her move.  Now that she has been at school there for a year and a half, she was able to show us around.  I even got to sit in on one of her classes.  It was fun to play college student again - at least until the professor gave out the assignments!

Seth surprised me, and bought us tickets to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  The symphony hall was so beautiful - and the music was just as lovely!

The one thing Seth said he REALLY wanted to do while we were in Boston was visit MIT and Harvard.  Here is a picture of one of the Harvard dorms.  A little bit nicer than CSU.  Just a little bit.  Haha!

I did manage to coerce Seth into visiting a few historical sites that were not institutes of higher learning.

We had a great time - even though I had worried and worried about how Juliette would do with being apart for that long (and me too, for that matter!).  I even asked my friends to specifically pray for us. Well, Jewel didn't even blink an eye when we dropped her off with Grandpa and Grandma.  And whenever we'd call to check in, she'd talk for about all of thirty seconds and then merrifly head off to play.  The big hug I got on our return made me think that she might have missed me a little however. 

Of course when Grandpa and Grandma left she cried and cried, asking over and over to go "in grandpa's car".  Which just goes to show you should never waste time worrying - it doesn't help, and even if you do worry, it probably isn't even about the right things. 

Seasons

It's snowing again . . . sigh.  It's times like these that I have to remind myself of God's promise that there is "a season for everything". 

It will be spring again. 

Someday.

The past three months have been snowy, but they have also been a season of busyness for us.  There have been passing moments when I have felt guilty for not taking a few moments to record the 'going ons' - but they have been - as I said - passing.  More and more, I'm coming to peace with the fact that just like the natural rhythm of spring and fall, summer and winter, our lives have seasons too.  Seasons of busyness and servanthood, reflection and rest.  The secret of course, if making sure you don't get stuck in any one of them.  No one of us wants to be caught wearing a Christmas sweater to a spring graduation party!  And I certainly don't want to be accused of being ruled by a tyrannically overcrammed schedule.  But I'm confident that the dust will settle eventually. 

Life is such a balancing act . . . sigh (again).

~~~

January was very full - mostly with shows like 'Cat in the Hat' and 'Super Why'.  Juliette's mysterious lumps, that confounded all of the doctors and specialists we visited in December, decided to abscess.  So at the beginning of January, we took her to the local clinic to have the first one lanced. 

We are so grateful for our little clinic here, but I'm not going to lie - it was a traumatic experience for everyone.  Unfortunately, they couldn't sedate her, so it required four adults to hold her down, while the Dr. sliced it open.  Before we went in for "the procedure," I was giving Seth a hard time about dreading it so.  But when it actually came down to it, I was the one that nearly fainted when they opened it up (No really, the nurse made me lie down, put my feet up, and gave me a cool wash cloth for my head.  Pathetic, I know!).  When the doctor opened her festering abcess, the smell was ghastly, and the amount of curdled puss that came out of my little baby's neck was horrifying.  To this day, I sort of throw up a little bit when I think about it.

They don't know why it abscessed - especially since she had been on several rounds of antibiotics.  She developed a second abscess further up on her neck later that month.

So we spend most of January and February in front of the TV with hot-packs on Juliette's face/neck - usually for an half-an-hour, three times a day or more. We had to keep her wounds open and cleaned, which meant ripping off the scabs and squeezing out the puss multiple times a day.  There were a lot of tears in our house - mostly hers, but sometimes mine too.  I felt like I was practically abusing my child.  She'd cry as soon as I turned on the bathroom faucet to warm up the washclothes.  Poor Seth couldn't hardly take it.  And when my dad visited, he had to leave the house until we were done.  Yuck, yuck, yuck! 

But, there were some really good things that came out of it too.  We got a lot of cuddle time in.  I developed an even greater respect for those in the medical field.  I got really good at wrestling a squirming two-year-old.  And the whole experience has made me so much more appreciative of life, health, and family in general!

The good news is - the mysterious hard lumps are gone.  She still has the lance wounds on her face, but gratefully they are getting better and better each day.  I'm praying that they don't scar, but even if they do, I'm just so thankful that she didn't have cancer or some other terrible, terrible disease.  God is so good!

~~~

Seth has been super busy with "the hardest class of his master's degree".  He also was promoted to project manager over all of the projects in the largest town in our county, plus another town that is over an hour away.  This means long commutes and late nights at the office.  That being said, we are so thankful for the plentiful work, especially because at the beginning of the year his boss warned him that they might be cutting hours across the board. 

Note to self - be more specific when you pray.  I should have not asked for more hours for Seth before they had even cut his regular hours.  That will teach me! 

~~~

My season of busyness has been obviously taking extra care of Jewel, trying to be supportive to my hardworking man, and putting together my big grant project at the elementary school.  We had our World Fair last week - and it was terrific.  If you want to see some of the things that the kids did, check it out here:  http://www.fridayenrichment.blogspot.com/

My next big project: potty training. Truly there is a season for everything.