Fever, Part II

As if two and half weeks of children with fevers were not enough, God - in His divine providence - has allowed more feverishness upon us. Parker awoke this morning with a fever of 102 and I have struggled to keep it below there since (even while alternating Tylenol and Motrin, which I NEVER do!). In addition, he is complaining of a whole host of flu-like symptoms which would lead to the logical conclusion that we have been swined. UGH!!!! In all honesty, I also awoke with a sore throat and have had a ticklish cough that I can't seem to shake. It is all fun and games around here right now!!!! My biggest fear is that Parker won't be healthy enough to don the Muscle Man costume, that he has been wearing on a daily basis for the past month, and do the trick-or-treating thing this Saturday. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays with the kids because they are BEYOND elated that they can just wander all over the neighborhood collecting candy. The pictures we get are among the best of the year (is it the evening lighting? the HUGE smiles on everyone's faces? or maybe just all of the SUGAR???) and I've even debated whether a Halloween picture Christmas card ("Celebrate the birth of our Savior" with Muscle Man, a pirate and a chubby little pumpkin... hmm... probably not quite right...) is ok. Anyhow, I know that it is getting a little bit ahead of myself but realistically, even if Parker would be miraculously over his fever by then, what are the chances that no one else is going to have it?? Feel free to pray fervently that somehow the rest of us (especially me... not meaning to be selfish but I can't help but feel a little bit scared of being one of "those" who succumb to the worst of the swine flu due to a "compromised" immune system... ugh) escape this latest issue unscathed.

Regardless of our circumstances, He is still God. If nothing else, I've learned that!! He is still on the throne, He is still in control (and I'm not... not that I really want to be). And He loves us down to the hairs that He has counted on our heads (ooh, that came out without really thinking it all through... what exactly does that mean to those of us who don't have hair??). Then today, in the midst of all of my craziness (and by that I mean, crazier than usual) I got the greatest "cancer" poem from a dear friend (I'm not sure who to attribute it to, so if you are out there oh poem writer, please don't take offense!):

Cancer is so limited.....
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away peace
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the Spirit,
It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection!

He is still risen to wipe away my sins... What a wonderful saving grace to a disappointing day. Praise the Lord that in my life there are absolutes that don't sway with my mood or my circumstances or my cancer. And in addition to that knowledge, another very dear friend stopped by with ice cream for me and popsicles for the kids (and another ran over with her unopend childrens' Motrin... I've been surrounded by love today!)! Talk about God meeting your every need... ha ha. Don't ever think that He doesn't have a sense of humor or that He doesn't care about your "smallest" need.