...on, and on, and on

Okay.  So for those of you who were laughing before...now Ben's got it, Braeden, and we thought Eli was better until tonight at bedtime when he threw up again.  Six down, 3 to go.  I have completely disinfected the ENTIRE house, and took away hand towels in favor of paper towels (got some hilarious looks from the 3 who aren't sick)!  

Look out for this bug, it's nasty!

P.S.

Just thought that I would add that this experience has given me an even greater appreciation for the family of Abby.  Abby has struggled with months of chemo with horrible side effects, my pitiful few days doesn't even compare!

But, it did feel better to vent and laugh at the absurdity of all of us being nursed by Ben at once.

I'm a grumpy old troll...

What. A. Week.  I intend to whine and complain, so feel free to leave at this point if necessary...

My mood tonight reminds me of that song from Dora that has a cute ring to it and talks about the grumpy old troll, who lives under the bridge.  Those who know me well, know that I cannot handle vomit.  Just the word makes me gag.  I inherited this dislike from my father, who also instantly gags at the sight, smell, or mention of it.  I will be taking up this issue with my heavenly father when I go home for good...why on earth did he feel the need to torture all of us with this yucky bodily function.  Honestly, I would rather have strep throat any day!

So we start out with Eli on Sunday night, me (Mom) at 1:30 am last night, Luke at 9:30 pm, and Isabelle at 10:30 pm.  This is the first time I can remember that we have ever had this many sick ones at once.  Usually one or two will get it and I manage to disinfect well enough that the rest escape.  The most unfortunate part of this viral bug is that only one of us so far has known to use the toilet.  Thankfully we have lots of wood floors and I had thought ahead to remove crib bumpers and extra bedding just in case.

Thanking the good Lord for Ben!  He doesn't do diarrhea (head to toe doesn't even phase me), but he rocks when it comes to kids and stomach contents.  He came home early from school today, and is going to stay home to help tomorrow.  Definitely wins the Daddy of the year award!

Ahhhh, thanks for letting me whine.  I'm off to me warm, flat, coca-cola...

Here is an update that was posted on the Riggs family blog this morning...please continue to pray!  It does not matter that we don't know them personally, our Lord will hear all the prayers for this sweet girl and her hurting family...:

"This morning, Abby is about the same. Her little tummy is so swollen, she looks like she is going to explode. The infection area on her stomach around her feeding tube covers about the area of a dollar bill... red, blistered, inflamed. Just touching Abby's feeding tube sends her into a tailspin. The sores have not begun to improve yet and she can barely tolerate even wearing a soft diaper or panties. Going to the bathroom is torture.

Michelle is really tired but patiently tends to every need Abby has... taking her to potty, changing her clothes and bedding, feeding her, putting medicine and cremes on her, monitoring her I.V.'s, getting her drinks, keeping her distracted... watching the same video over and over 50 fifty times because that is what Abby wants to watch. (when Abby is done with chemo, I'm burning "Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast")

Michelle is the epitome of a mother willing to give up every comfort, all her time and ignore her own needs... to take care of her child. For those who hold the opinion that "adopted" kids are "not as much your child" as biological kids... well, I don't have to make any comments about that. Everyone who has ever adopted knows how absurd that is."

Please help us pray for Abby!

I have added a "blog badge" to the top right of our blog for a little girl we have been praying for.  Her name is Abby and she was adopted from Guatemala. At three years old, she was diagnosed with a high-risk, aggressive form of Leukemia. Certain genetic complications have put her chance of surviving the treatment at about 20%.  Her family is journaling their faith walk on their blog site and you can get daily updates for Abby there.  Just click on the badge on our site to go to the Riggs family site.  Abby seems to have taken a turn for the worse today and needs all the prayer she can get!

Just a little sliver...

Last night "Mr. Man" had a sliver in his foot.  To most of us a sliver means 2 things...a needle and tweezers.  We pull it out and ahhhh, much better!  This little sliver is a great example of the emotional pain that is "leftover" for these little people surviving foster care/adoption.

MM shows me his little sliver while I'm tucking him to bed last night.  I say, "okay honey, let's go in the bathroom where the lighting is better and we'll pull it out".  He says, "okay Mom".  We headed into the bathroom and I try to remove the sliver with my fingernails since it is already part of the way out.  No such luck, so we ask Braeden to bring us some tweezers.  We try the tweezers and still can't seem to get a grip on the dang thing.  At this point we have much squirming, some yelling (even before we touch it) and moaning.  I finally sneak downstairs to get a pin.  When I get back we try a few more times with tweezers, but he is definitely getting more agitated despite our reassurance that "Mom" has much experience with tweezers and Braeden shares stories to try and distract and calm him.  

I start to explain that I think it will be easier to just slide a pin in next to the sliver and pull it out...TOTAL PANIC.  I am talking instant sweating, tears, agitation beyond anything I've seen before!  Out of his mouth pours a story of horror involving a previous sliver, a large knife, needle and an irrational birth father.  The poor baby was scared to death of that tiny pin.  Emotionally and physically his whole being reacted instantly just at the sight.  We did our best to calm him, and through his unreal sweating and shaking quickly removed the sliver without further incident.  The relief and letdown was immediate.

The amazing part of this, is that he did trust me (and Braeden) enough to let us continue, and actually said that "he knew we could fix it".  However, it just shows how powerful a child's past hurts can be and how that can affect their whole little body.  So many foster children are labeled with all kinds of different things.  Mr. Man himself was labeled with a few that are complete hogwash!  Things that truly would have made him seem "unadoptable" to some.  The truth for many of these kids, is that they can't always control their reactions to a situation because their brain is telling them that they are in extreme danger due to past circumstances.  I think it would do the world a whole lot of good if we would remember that when we are working with children, especially those that come from a broken past.  We don't always know the past of a child we meet...but are so quick to judge an unusual or extreme behavior.  Take the time to try and find out what is behind the strange actions with a kind word, caring look, or if appropriate soft touch and we just might be surprised how much healing and peace that could bring.  Understanding and acceptance can go a long way.  Once a person can process the pain and fear in a safe environment, I don't believe the next reaction to that type of situation will be so extreme.  

I carried MM back to bed and carefully tucked his still quivering body in.  He wrapped his arms around my neck, and said "I love you Mom" and explained again his "overreaction" to me.  The sweet boy wanted to make sure that I wasn't mad at him for being scared.  He healed another wound a little bit last night.  The scar will always be there, but his gentle relieved cry and soft sigh when he rolled over, assured me that there was healing.  God-willing, the next sliver will be a whole lot less scary.