Tuesday night/Wednesday was, let’s say, not great. When I went to bed at 11, I’d meant to set my alarm for 5:30 but forgot. I wanted to get up early to write, but I’d been waking up early on my own, so I figured I’d be fine.

At 1 a.m., a very distressed “Mommy!” woke me up. Poor Xoe (7) was sick. And proceeded to be sick every half hour, meaning that neither of us had the chance to go back to sleep. At about 3, I had the thought that, unlike the last time we had a sick kid in the middle of the night, there was nothing going on this Wednesday that I would have to plan around. We could just rest.

Thank you, Lord.

The pattern continued until, oh, 5:00. I fell back into bed that time staring at the clock and wondering if, unlike every other time, either of us would manage to get back to sleep before the nausea struck again. Oh, I prayed so. I prayed so with every fiber of my being, as I had been praying for the last two hours.

Women Doing Laundry by Jahn Ekenaes (Oh yes, thank you for washing machines!)

Downstairs I heard the whir of the dryer. The chug of the washer. And it occurred to me that plenty of times over the past two years, one or the other of those machines had been not working improperly, either plain not going or not draining right. But tonight, both were behaving beautifully as they washed the sheets and towels and clothes soiled from upset bellies.

Thank you, Lord.

At 6:00 when I heard the bathroom door creak again, I realized I had actually slept for the first time since those two hours at the beginning of the night, and that Xoe had too.

Thank you, Lord.

Though my poor little dumpling understandably asked when she was going to stop and feel better, she smiled as I tucked her, yet again, into bed.

Thank you, Lord.

A mere half hour later, Rowyn woke up. Too chipper for his exhausted mama, waaaaaaaaay too bouncy. But chipper and happy and healthy.

Thank you, Lord.

By no means was this a great day. Certainly not the day I’d planned when I meant to set my alarm and wake up early to write. We weren’t out basking in the beautiful 75-degree sunshine like I would normally have wanted.

But you know, it’s just the flu. It passes quickly. We can deal with it. We have the blessing of being able to redo our schedule at the drop of a hat, thanks to homeschooling. I work from home, so I can just declare it a sick day if I have to. We can rest, we can recuperate, and we can so what needs doing. And oh, how much doable it all seems when I remember to take those moments between the yucks and exhaustion to

Thank you, Lord.