A Dramatic Hypochondriac

If you are thinking of traveling to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro..... Think again. It's not there anymore. It has left Africa and planted itself on  MY lip!!

In the form of a cold sore, of course....

I asked Dan if he thought it was very noticeable. "Noooooo," was his lying reply. Dan's a terrible liar!! He told me it was really okay, just looked like a Botox job gone bad. Then he laughed. I didn't think it was funny at all. Not only is it a monstrosity on my face, it's extremely painful. I'm talking childbirth level pain. All in one concentrated spot!

Okay, so maybe that whole, "you forget what childbirth feels like" just might apply here.

None the less, I'm thinking a lipectomy might be in order. No lip has got to look better (and feel better) than the one I currently have!

Dan thinks I'm a bit of a dramatic hypochondriac. I beg to differ. I'm just extremely cautious. Extremely.

Take the other day for instance -

Dan came home form work to find several windows in the house open and me lying on the couch. It was around 30 degrees outside, so he naturally questioned my actions in the form of,  "Why do you have the windows open, it's 30 degrees outside!!??" "I'm dying of carbon monoxide poisoning, and I didn't want the children to die too." I replied. "You're what?" was his unsympathetic (and unconcerned, I might add) reply. "I'm DYING of carbon monoxide poisoning, and I DIDN'T want the children to die too," I repeated emphatically. He was still very unconcerned about the state of my health. In fact it seemed that he was a lot more concerned that the children were going to freeze to death as evidenced by the fact that he was walking around closing all the windows....... He finally (after the windows were shut) came and stood over me as I lay on the couch and asked why I thought I had carbon monoxide poisoning. "I have a bad headache, dizziness, and I'm sick to my stomach," I told him "Those are all symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. I read it on the internet" "Don't you think those might all be symptoms of just a simple virus also?" was his still unsympathetic answer. "Maybe," I said. "But I didn't want to take a chance with the kids, I mean, do you want to come home and find us all DEAD??" He walked away shaking his head. "Where are you going?" I asked. "To stoke the fire." he said.

And then there was the night -

"Dan, I think I have a brain aneurysm," I told him in the middle of the night. (My favorite time of day to share important things.) "Why do you think that?" he asked. I'm pretty sure he was humoring me. He doesn't know what an aneurysm feels like though,,,. "My head just feels weird, and I think it might be an aneurysm," I said. "Okay," was again his very unconcerned reply. I was really worried! "I'm afraid it might explode, and I don't want to die in my sleep." I told him. "Mm hm," he said sleepily. "Well, aren't you going to stay awake, and make sure I don't DIE!!!??" I calmly asked him. "Nope," he said as he rolled over. So, I had to stay awake and make sure I didn't die of an aneurysm myself. That was extremely boring. I finally gave up and went to sleep too.

I still can't figure out why Dan thinks I'm a hypochondriac. But, if I die before morning of this cold sore, I'm sure he will be a bit more sympathetic.......

This is part of poor Dan's "Everyday Life."

A Quiet New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve. Not a huge holiday at the Van Patten house. We had sick kiddos and a man that's not excited about large parties on New Year's Eve, so we made our own party. At home with our family and an auntie. We made soup, had a Nerf gun war, ate popcorn in the family room, (this is normally a strict no, no) and had an indoor camp out. It was pretty much a perfect evening. The Nerf gun war went well. We set up forts on both sides of the room and shot foam darts at each other. (A pretty common occurrence in a house of mostly boys.)  We only had two people in tears by the end of the game. (I told Dan if he would stop crying,  I would.)

I picked Disney's "Swiss Family Robinson" as the movie of choice. I thought the kids might enjoy one that I used to like as a child. They did. They got scared, laughed, and talked all the way through it. Oh, and spilled popcorn everywhere. Zack piped up that it could only get better if we drank soda in the family room too. So we did. Memories. We decided we're moving to an island and living in a tree house.

Dan had to work the next morning and Elijah wasn't feeling well, so they opted out of the camp out. The rest of us bedded down in the family room for the night. We watched the ball drop. (Still not sure what all the excitement is about that.)  It's not even much of a drop, more of a really slow slide. None the less, we dutifully watched it before we went to sleep.

As I lay on the couch (I did not dutifully sleep on the floor.) I looked out the window and noticed the stars. I can't see them from my bedroom, so it was nice being able to watch them as I drifted off to sleep. I also noticed that I had no one to talk to in the middle of the night. (Dan had probably thought this one through!) It was New Year's Eve though, a time to make goals and resolutions. I decided since Dan was FAR away in the bedroom, I would talk to God.

Instead of telling God my goals for the new year, I asked Him what He wanted of me. What He wanted me to work on this year, which direction He wanted me to go. Sometimes in the silence, when we take the time to listen, God speaks to our hearts. He gave me one word that night, in the quiet of sleeping children and the stars out the window. He clearly whispered it to my heart, "obedience." "Obedience to what, Lord?" was my quick reply. I like clear direction, tell me when and where, and I'm there! The response was the same. Quietly whispered from His Spirit to my heart, "just obedience."

It's a big word - obedience.

 As I looked at the stars it reminded me of Abraham. I'm looking at the same stars he did that fateful night when God made big promises to him. Promises of a ginormous sized family, and most importantly The Deliverer. Abraham was also given an instruction of obedience from God. Go where you have no clue and do what you don't know. I just love clear directions like those...... But, Abraham had faith. He believed God  And he WENT! With only the stars and God's promise to guide him.

How I loooong for faith like that. Faith to take the unknown step and to fully believe in a God you can't see.

Maybe obedience is the first step to that kind faith. Maybe a promise of obedience is the first step to obedience. Maybe a quiet New Year's Eve is the beginning of a new kind of year for me. A kind of year where God uses me when I obey Him. A year where I'm listening to the promptings of His Spirit and actually doing what He says.

 "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." Gal. 3:6one