Romans 12:12 says 'Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant
in prayer.'
We had a wonderful holiday break. It was fabulous to have Rachel and Cody
home from college for a whole month! It was busy at times and
yet quiet and lazy too. Although having older kiddos can be bittersweet
there is also something wondrous about it as well.
We had an interesting trip to the NIH in December. The Children' s Inn is
renovating one wing so at the last minute we were moved to Woodmont
House. There were 5 of us camping out in a room with 2 twin beds and 3
cots. At times it was crazy but the younger two managed to have a blast
in spite of it. Lucas in particular became great friends with
the security guard. Life experiences are what you make of them.
We are still waiting on the genome sequencing. I remembered to bring
pictures from Cody's rashes which they were very interested and Hershey
is sending them the slides from the biopsy. The good news is no more hematuria at this time... so we can relax about his kidneys.
Half way through the year and independence is blossoming in the younger
two! Hannah already was fairly independent, Lucas surprises us every
day with the lessons he attempts on his own. We have fallen into a
comfortable schedule where Mike supervises Science and History while I
take care of Language Arts and Algebra.
That is not to say everything is always rosy.{Just keeping it real folks}
Many days I feel like I am not doing this whole shebang well. There are
days I compare myself to others and wonder why after 23 years of
marriage and 21 years of mothering I am not better at this. Working
and continuing to do school at home is a managed chaos that often
makes me question my sanity.
Which brings me back to hope. Hope in the knowledge that this life
is not all there is. That 'we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show
the exceptional power belongs to God not us' (2 Cor 4:7 my paraphrase).
Hope keeps us going when there seems no end in sight. Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
