All Is Not Well... the saga continues

I have to start of with praising God. Thank you Lord for your mercy and grace. My Warrior is all better. He woke up Thursday morning, starving! No symptoms whatsoever. The only sign that he'd been sick was his loss of weight and the dark circles around his eyes. His appetite was insatiable! But I still kept him on a "BRAT" type diet.

Friday morning, while I was loving on my Warrior, I told him how glad I was that he was feeling better. He quickly told me, "Mom, feeling? (with a Daniel attitude) I 'AM' better." :o) His humor is back. We've missed it.

*Note: this picture was taken Saturday around 6p. Three days after he started to get sick. He's looking much better here.

G.I. Joe woke up Thursday morning at 4am. He came into our room and said, "Dad, I'm not feeling well." My heart stopped. Not only because he wasn't feeling well, but because, he didn't come to me. He came looking for dad. My baby is growing up. I believe he has it worse than my Warrior. He has awful abdominal cramping, the big "D" AND the big "V". :o( He was unable to keep anything down all day Thursday. We made him as comfortable as possible on the futon in the family room. He didn't sleep a wink. He was in too much pain and busy. I kept an eye on him all night. I wanted to make sure it wasn't an *appendicitis attack. (More on appendicitis at another time.)

Friday morning, after disinfecting the living room, we set him up in the living room. My Knight brought down G.I. Joe's mattress. We changed his sheets, blankets and pillow covers. Best to start off fresh. In the past week I've done over 20 loads of laundry. I'm not exaggerating. He has not been able to sleep. He was weak, tired and in pain. I know there is nothing that can be done other than letting the virus run it's course.

G. I. Joe was very upset that he fell ill cause our youth was going rock climbing Friday. He had invited a friend to come along. He's been witnessing to his friend. I know that God will bring other opportunities for him to continue to witness.

I spoke with *Boss Lady today. That's my sister. (More on this at another time) She reminded me that Abuela Caky always drank Anise tea when she had a belly ache. Now none of my family members are tea drinkers. Even so, I always kept some just in case. Even though I can't remember the last time any of us had a stomach virus. I made some Anise tea. He took some sips and felt a little relief. Now the symptoms didn't stop, but the tea took "some" of the edge off. We discontinued drinking Gatorade cause that for some reason made him worse. So we stuck to "itty bitty" sips of water, Anise tea or flat coke.

Today we see a difference. I was up all night with him, but the intervals of being sick were getting farther apart. He was able to sleep 1-1:30 hours at a time. Praise the Lord! He really needed the rest. He is a slim young man to begin with. Just being sick 2-3 days, has really taken a toll on him. Bless his heart. In the middle of the night he looked at me and said, "Mom, I love you. I'm sorry I'm working you so hard." I couldn't help but cry. To think that he's thinking of me at a time that he's so ill. First thing I did this morning is take a bath. Once I was done, he took one too. We wanted to start the day off fresh.

We were running low on supplies and grocery needed to be done. My Knight, Soaring Amongst The Clouds, Still Waters and the Warrior went to get what was needed. They also went to get a new softball bat and a baseball bat. Soaring Amongst The Clouds has put together a college & career summer softball team and we needed to get a new bat. The Warrior cracked his bat at his last game, so he needed a new bat too.

On Sunday our church is having a luncheon fund raiser for a Cuban mission trip. For $7 dollars you can have an authentic Cuban dinner. The meal includes, roasted chicken, black beans, white rice, salad and for dessert flan. Flan is a traditional Cuban dessert. It's almost like a custard, but BETTER! So I had volunteered to bake some flans. So while my Knight was out with three of our children, I got busy preparing to bake. I could only do part of it cause I had to wait on the main ingredient... a dozen eggs. I did do the toughest part which is making the caramel which lines the pan. I always have a hard time with it. Would you know it... it came out perfect the first time around. I can honestly say, that I was just going through the motions of getting it done. It was all God's grace and mercy getting me through the day. I did two more loads of laundry.

Today the cramps were starting to lessen. He still hasn't wanted to eat anything, but at least now he is keeping all liquids down. Praise the Lord. While he was resting, I was able to take a much needed nap in our waterbed. I have missed my bed. I've been sleeping, not wait, more like cat napping on our family room couch for 10 days.

When I woke up, all the groceries were put away. G.I. Joe had been able to take a much need nap too. Daughter of the King tended to her brother while I was resting. Lots happened while I was napping. Soaring Amongst The Clouds is meeting with some friends to night. They are going to watch a movie and have pizza at one of her friend's home. Still Waters is babysitting for a church member. I made sure they knew that one of our boys had recovered from the stomach virus, but the other one had it. I left it up to them. I told them our feelings wouldn't hurt, it they didn't want any of our girls to babysit, we would completely understand. They still wanted to got out. Before Soaring Amongst The Clouds left for her fellowship, she had made chocolate chip cookies to take and some for us at home. She also cooked dinner for the ones that were staying home. She made tacos.

I can't say it enough... I'm sooooooo blessed! My Knight is a Knight among Knights. He is ALWAYS there for me and our children. My children have such a servants heart. They're willingness to help leaves me speechless. They continue to give and give without being asked. My cup runneth over...