Not Destroyed...

I realize it's been a while since last I updated.

Here's the past 10 days in a nutshell:

• Both girls have had croup
  
• My Mommy comes from Europe to hang out with us
  
• My poor Mom breaks her arm PLAYING WITH MY KIDS!!!
  
• "Drop her off" at the ER at 6:30 pm and wait for 6 hours... the next morning she arrives via taxi cab (not my choice, just shows her selflessness)
  
• Lots of pain for my mom
  
• Drs. appts DAILY for kiddos
  
• Head north to see great grandmas, cousins and uncles
  
• Disneyland (My mom is a true CHAMPION... while in extreme pain she endured the "Happiest Place on Earth")
  
• Home
  
• Scott's car repaired.
  
• I get sick (first time since Scott left) 102 Fever
  
• Girls not sleeping through the night anymore
  
• Medical bills
  
• Plumbing nightmare and sewage shows up in both bathrooms
  
• Major emergency plumbing... busting into foundation, etc
  
• (When the plumber told me we had a cracked pipe under the foundation I asked him if he had a spare crack pipe I could borrow to alleviate the stress... he said he left his all at home!)
  
• $XXXX more than our emergency fund and 3 days of plumbing work and they're still here finding new things wrong.
  
• Our newly remodeled bathroom (that I literally finished painting 2 weeks ago) is now half empty... at least we get a new bathtub.
  
• Trip to visit Scott doesn't seem to fit into the realm of possibility at this point as our money is going down the drain.
  
• Still sick, rundown, exhausted, confused and spent.
  
• We are being audited by our friendly neighborhood IRS...wooohooo!
  
• Oh, and lest I forget... I am on day 3 of the 8-day cleanse and though I have not had any caffeine w/drawl symptoms, I realize I am addicted to coffee... some would hit the bottle, or the pills during these times but I am craving the BEAN... what a silly week to give up coffee for an awful CLEANSE.  My body may be ridding itself of toxins but my mood without coffee is potently noxious... sad, I know. 

I feel destroyed, BUT, I am not destroyed.  After dropping my mom off at the airport, I had the chance to delve into the WORD.  I looked up almost every passage with the word "hardship" in it and I realized that I am soooo not even struck down.   Boy does 2 Corinthians 4 put things in perspective.  There is never any promise of health and wealth to those who follow after Christ only a promise of faithfulness, companionship, joy in the trials, comfort, HEAVEN, relationship with God our Father and peace, peace, peace.  So tonight I go to bed trusting the faithfulness of my closest Friend, my Savior, my Father, my Lord's plan and provision, with joyful memories of my mom's stay here, joy in the sleeping smiles on the faces of my children, peace seeing with the eternal perspective, peace that surpasses all understanding, peaceful assurance in the very word of God, peaceful psalms in my heart and mind, peace, true peace.

I still miss my husband like crazy, I already miss my mom, praying like crazy the girls will start sleeping through the night again, I am choosing not to think about finances between the hours of 6 pm and 9 am, and I am praising the Lord for the strength He will give me to make it through each day!

So, that's the latest from our family!

Oh, and H can say, "I love you" and M is on her way to being fully potty trained... although we can't find panties small enough for her little 20 pound body...had to order some online that might work!!!

PS:  I know I am slacking off on returning phone calls and messages and I'll probably continue to for a few more days...sorry!