Dropping like flies

Last Friday while Paul was in Las Vegas he came down with a respiratory and GI bug. His father was the first one to get it after Paul (his dad traveled with him to Vegas). Oliver succumbed to it on Monday afternoon. He slept for 15 hours straight (minus going to the bathroom a couple of times); he slept from 4:30pm on Monday to 7:30am on Tuesday! Ian came down sick on Tuesday night. The kids couldn't go to the babysitter on Tuesday because we wouldn't want to spread their germs to her kids, especially as her 1st grader is scheduled to have oral surgery this coming Monday. Paul wasn't feeling well enough to go to work on Monday. From Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon Paul slept for almost 24 hours straight. He was going to go to work on Tuesday but between the snow we got that morning (the two schools I planned to visit that day both had snow days), how he was feeling, plus the fact he would have had to come very early to watch the kids so I could go to the university, he opted to stay home that day. He went to work yesterday, although he's still under the weather. He usually leaves very early (ex. 4:30am), but he didn't leave until about 8:30am yesterday. Nadia went to gymnastics yesterday afternoon and AWANA last night. The boys and I ran errands during gymnastics (CVS, library, etc.), and they stayed home during AWANA. I started coming down with the bug yesterday morning, and by last evening I felt miserable. I went to bed around 6:30pm since Paul was at home.

When my temperature was around 102 degrees at 1am I decided to take a sick day today, and I *never* take sick days, but my fever broke sometime after that and was lower this morning. I took a hefty dose of Advil before heading out the door, and that did the trick. Paul had gone to work, but he met the kids and I in Northumberland (the town where I was visiting two student teachers) at 11:15. I then headed to campus for a seminar at 1:00 and then taught my classes from 2:00-4:45. Yesterday I was trying to work on a photo book on Shutterfly. I hadn't made one since September and had a wonderful coupon code that was expiring yesterday, but I just didn't have it in me. I was hoping they'd extend the coupon code (sometimes they do that). This morning when I checked I discovered they had extended another code (a calendar code I don't intend to use), but they hadn't extended the extra 91 page photo book code. I'm really hoping they offer that code again sometime this month or next month. I don't regret the fact I chose to go to bed at 6:30 last night. I was going to do one more student teaching visit tomorrow while the kids are in gym class, but the boys are still sick so I think I'll have to reschedule that visit for the third time. I intended to visit last Thursday but the co-op had a death in the family and asked me to reschedule. Then they had a snow day on Tuesday (which was my second plan). The co-op wasn't in today either, so I had planned to go tomorrow, but now this time I'm the one needing it to be rescheduled. I can't ask Paul to miss another day of work. These are the challenges when both parents work outside the home, and I don't have any family that lives near by to help out in a situation like this. We have been earnestly praying that Paul's mom will escape the bug because with her immune system being low since she's been undergoing chemo it would be really awful if she got this bug. It is a doozy! Nadia has dodged the bullet thus far. If she's going to get it, I hope she does ASAP because it would be awful if the boys were healthy and then we still couldn't take the kids to the babysitter next week because Nadia was sick. Of course it would be awesome if she never got it!

We've still be doing most of our school work. I let Nadia and Ian skip math and piano yesterday and today (Nadia benefitted from her brothers' illnesses). We still did history, science, Bible, reading, and spelling. They have watched more TV than usual. Since we had recently studied whales and dolphins in science, I checked out a few of the Free Willy dvds from the library. They enjoyed them! The boys have had very little energy and almost no appetites. They have pretty much been either in bed or lying on the floor or the couch. Here's to hoping and praying we will all be healthy soon!

Not that I don't have things to be thankful for today, but I thought this time I'd share some prayer requests instead:

1. My brother (his birthday is today!) had an interview recently regarding his doctoral application to Penn. He has another interview scheduled for this month with NYU. I'm hoping and praying Penn will make him an offer in the next week or so as it would be awesome to have my brother living in the same state as me! Penn is in Philadelphia so it's not super close, but it's *much* closer than Brazil (where he lived previously) or Texas (where he has lived for the last 2 years).

2. Julianna (niece who will turn 5 in 13 days) recently burned herself really badly (mostly her leg) with hot water. She has an amazingly high tolerance to pain. Praying that there won't be any permanent damage. 

3. That we'll all be healthy soon (Paul's dad, Paul, Ian, Oliver, and I), and that Paul's mom and Nadia will not come down with it. I had gone 5.5 months without being sick (the last time I was sick was early August when I caught the stomach bug the Towfighis brought over from Turkey) for which I am grateful.

4. A friend of mine has been going through a divorce/custody battle. She has homeschooled their boys for many years. They are now waiting to hear the judge's verdict regarding which parent will have primary custody, etc. Praying for God to give the judge wisdom and for peace while they wait.

5. For wisdom for future decisions for the Towfighis. The relationship between Turkey and the US has become increasingly strained for a variety of reasons (including recent events in Syria). They are exploring the possibility of possibly moving to Vienna, Austria.