Boo vs. Hooray!

It has been a while since I have gotten to sit down and write again.... life just seems to be getting crazier and crazier, but in mostly good ways. I am hoping that I can write a quick post to bring life mostly up to date! We will see if that can happen... and in the name of quickness it is going to be a Boo vs Hooray post!

Boo .....
To a very sick little boy who fought and fought to overcome all his body was throwing at him, including but not limited to a TRIPLE Staph infection, a UTI, drug interaction that caused liver function problems (read liver failure), general lethargy and lack of any get up and go and lots of vomiting.... Poor boy!

Hooray....
To FABULOUS Doctors and a great care team helping us out while Nathaniel was so sick.

Boo....
To MANY missed days of school (for Nat) and work (for mommy).

Hooray ....
To the freedom to have coffee dates with my little man (while TRYING to convince him to eat ANYTHING to get calories in him!) and beach prayer walks (to lay it all back a the foot of the cross) while deep in this battle.

Boo....
To battling for health and EVERYTHING else falling behind. Cooking, cleaning, bills, laundry, letter writing, EVERYTHING.

Hooray.....
To a DEAR friend who took her precious mommy free time to come over and help me clean my house when I was so far behind. Nothing like clean floors and pick up piles to make even the most stressful situation a little more bearable! ANd horray to us getting to go sit at the bay and talk after wards!

Boo.....
To living so financially challenged that something as simple as buying Gatorade for my sick boy can bring me to COMPLETE dependence on the Lord and unstoppable tears.

Hooray ....
To the AMAZING way He provides for us. Please allow me to share a story here.

 One afternoon, after days and days of a sick boy, I was on the phone with the doctor. My son's wonderful doctor was telling me to go to the grocery store and buy him ANYTHING that he would eat because he had to get SOMETHING in him. He was also telling me that Gatorade would be the BEST thing for him to be drinking right then as he was loosing so much with the vomiting. I was trying SO HARD not to cry on the phone with the doctor because I knew that I had less than $3.00 to my name and it would take a MIRACLE to be able to buy what Nathaniel needed that night. I was actually on the land line (which happens SO SELDOM in my world!) and when my cell beeped that an email came in I decided to look at it, hoping it would distract me from the despair taking me over right that second. When I opened the email it said "Notification from Pay Pal, Donation received". At that point I could NOT stop the tears... God had lead someone RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT to make a GENEROUS donation to my family and I was able to hang up the phone and take my Pay Pal debit card and go right to the market and buy what Nathaniel needed. God is SO GOOD! And my family is SO BLESSED by those who surround us in love!

Boo....
To this thing that is called Spina Bifida and LOVES to throw curve balls at us!

Hooray....
To our Lord who is WAY BIGGER than ANYTHING, including Spina Bifida!

Double Hooray....
To a healed and healthy little boy now!

Boo....
To my yard that was OUT OF CONTROL with weeds, and my complete lack of being able to take care of it.

Hooray ....
To a generous someone from my Small Group. When I asked if anyone had a lawn mower I could use to tame the out of control yard, this man responded.... and a BIG way! He GAVE me a great lawn mower which I will be able to use over and over to meet this need of my family! How generous of him, and what a blessing to our family!

Boo....
To car maintenance in the middle of everything else. Last week and this week I had to have tons of work done to my car, both regular maintenance and some special work. And I had to get it all done before we leave for clinic in San Francisco on Thursday.

Hooray....
To extended warranties which SUBSTANTIALLY reduced the amount I had to spend to get the car fixed.

Boo....
To a growing boy who needs a bigger wheelchair, and what that bigger wheelchair does to this mamma's back as I lift it in and out of the car. Since I don't want my boy to stop growing and thriving, I think it is time to seriously consider a van with a wheel chair lift..... Double Boo to that expense!

Hooray....
To a Lord who I KNOW will meet our needs and the ability to lay the need for a chair lift van at the foot of his cross. I WILL NOT stress myself out over this. I will do my homework, and research all the options out there, and at the same time I will lay this need down before the Lord. Through these actions I know that the PERFECT thing for our family will be made know to us!

Boo.....
To father's who don't fulfill their callings to take care of their children.

Hooray.....
To new adventures in which my family is striving to meet our financial needs without mommy have to work OUTSIDE of our home. I can not wait to show you all what we have been working on... SO EXCITING!!!

Boo....
To agency things taking 2-3 times longer than ANYONE thinks that they should!!

Hooray....

To the funding in place for our new care team, which will NOT be run through an agency, but through our family!

Boo....
To saying goodbye in the next couple of weeks to some KEY players on our care team. Reb, Jenn and Jenny will all leave BIG HOLES when they leave us soon, and we will miss all of them so much.

Hooray....
To FINALLY having all of our positions filled on our new care team!!! As much as we will miss Reb, Jenny and Jenn, I am excited for the new members of the team. I think that they will all fit in great with our family (and THAT is a bit of a challenge when looking for people to hire!)

Boo....
To it being THAT time of the year where we all have so much work to do in filing these tax papers! So much work.... makes me crazy every year!

Hooray....
To the government giving me back all of the money it borrowed from me against my wishes! (not really borrowed.... since I get don't pay in anything and yet get credits back every year, but I am not sure what else to call it in a positive light! Some days I would REALLY like that extra couple hundred each month, but that is not how it works, so I will take it now :) ) I am looking forward to paying down some big bills and setting a bit aside for those rainy days.

Boo....
To this SILLY day light savings change! Man is it wrecking havoc in my household!!!!

Hooray.....
To spring on it's way! I am ready for some warm weather!

Boo.....
To missing so many of my friends right now. I have not been able to regularly read blogs, one of my dearest friends moved to a village where there is no Internet access, and most of my local friends are just busy with life right now.

Hooray....
To the few growing friendships I have. Looking forward to welcoming new people into our life and renewing some old.

Boo....
To the never ending stresses of being a single mom with NO help from the children's father.

Hooray....
To a scheduling MIRACLE that had BOTH of my kids at supervised activities on Saturday and allowed me 2 short hours to myself! I decided to take BIG advantage of it and go get a pedicure with a dear friend!!