The past few weeks has been a time of resting, recuperating and recharging. Our last post had been on 10 Nov, just a few days before the end of my exams. Wife and I had probably been running on adrenaline leading up to the end of the exams and then after that a period of 2 weeks when I had 3 research papers to complete. God had sustained us both through that period. But there had to come a time when the body had to give, and I fell sick first, followed by the rest of the family. And so, we had been resting and recuperating.
This week is wife's week "off". It's tough for a stay-home mum, having no leaves that she can take, working 24/7, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Everyone needs some time off once in a while and this week, wife gets her time to recharge. We try to disturb her as little as possible and she does what she wishes to do, whether its staying at home just to rest and relax or to go out with friends. She's got some planning and targets that she has set herself for this week, but these are soft targets. The most important thing is for her to recharge and spend quality time with the Lord, soaking in His presence and seeking Him.
While wife spends quality time with the Lord, I get to spend quality time with the children. Already, I get to know Sophia better through my enforced interaction with her. What angle she likes her head on your shoulder when she sleeps, how she likes to alternate between been talked to and watching the mobile, how she sleeps better faced down on the sofa rather than face up on her cot etc.
Sarah has been more vocal these few days. Her vocab is probably better than Caleb when he was her age, but her diction and grammar lacks behind. Regardless, she is at such a cute age that almost everything she says comes out funny. Just last night, she prayed on her own totally the first time in broken english. I was asking for the children's prayer request during our nightly quiet time and she said to pray for her "wee-wee", pointing to her diapers. What she meant was for God to help her not to burst her diaper as she had done the night before. While before, we had to prompt her about her prayer requests, she articulated that herself last night. She also proceeded to pray on her own "dear Lord, pray that... diaper.... burst... wee wee... not ... mattress". God certainly knew what she was praying for and she woke up this morning without her diaper bursting.
Caleb, after falling prey to the flu virus the last 2 weeks, had been in a more winy mood, especially since his sinus and inflamed nose had been causing him some difficulty in breathing at nights. We have had to be very patient with him when he wakes up crying and wining in the middle of the night. He once took more than 2 hours to be placated and calmed down before he could go back to sleep. We were pretty heartbroken to see him suffering as such, and it spurred us on to pray more for his sinus issue and health in general. Since I do have the same sinus problem, I can identify with his frustrations and that has helped me explain to him how I deal with the problem and how we can both try to get better together. That has also bonded us closer to each other as we both now go through almost the same routines (e.g. nasal sprays, medication etc) and can encourage and remind each other.
It's 3 weeks more till then end of the holidays. My prayer is that I'll be able to bond further with the children during this time, while at the same time both recharging my batteries for the next semester. Stretch goals will be to complete writing one research paper (topics already given for the next semester) and finish the research phase of another paper.
