thankful perspective

I've heard lots of different coughs during my adventures in mothering. The dry cough. The cough that produces all of the yuck. The incessant cough and more. But in all of my 7.5 years of motherhood, I had never heard the "barking seal" cough people talk about. . .until last night. Around midnight. My first reaction was, "Are you kidding me? No, of course! Chad is out of town, and things always happen when he's gone!" I started thinking about how I was planning on dropping Miles at his Parents Day Out tomorrow because I had to take Way downtown for a hearing test at LeBonheur and how this was going to interrupt my plans. My expectations. You may remember my word for the year from this post! Clearly, I'm still working on it! But, God! Praise be to the Lord for giving me perspective and wisdom at that moment when I needed it most!

With Chad out of town, I easily could have panicked, but I didn't. I grabbed our handy little pediatrician guide, that our doctor gives us when a new baby is born, and read up on Croup. I turned on the steamy shower and went to get Miles, who was a sad little thing! That cough truly is a barking seal cough! We cuddled, in the dark, steamy bathroom for 20 minutes and I loved it. I hated that he was miserable, but I loved that he just wrapped his arms around me and laid his sweet head against my chest. He felt safe and content and I didn't want to be anywhere else. I had nowhere else to go (except sleep) and I was thankful! An opportunity to cuddle my little one, who's often busy running to keep up with his older brothers, was given to me, and Oh!!

This morning was wonderful too! I ended up not having to scratch Way's appt., but nervously charged forward with my 3 youngest, and we all survived his hearing test with no meltdowns! It doesn't always work out that way. Hardly. I was thankful. And, though one of Way's little ears, still doesn't have a big enough canal to hear, his other ear hears wonderfully! I'm told we just need one ear for speech and hearing. Not ideal, but we have one ear that is working! I am thankful!

I am also thankful for LeBonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis. They've been with us through neurological tests when Luke was a baby, tubes and adenoid surgery for all of our boys, eye surgery, and all kinds of heart testing for baby Way. Not to mention how they've helped so many of our friends! I am thankful!

And, I'm thankful the Lord doesn't give up on me and keeps on teaching me. . .

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9