Plans don't always go as planned

The end of the school year always seems to bring such busyness with it. Last minute notices about end of the year festivities, planning for summer camps, and my son's birthday. I thought I was doing pretty well managing everything. I was busy, but we were making it through and not missing anything. My calendar hangs on the wall across from my kitchen table where I can see it with just a glance up from the computer.

As sometimes happens, I got thrown a curve ball this year. Last week of school. I had planned to finish up a few last minute birthday preparations for my son and relax as much as possible before school lets out - maybe even go to the pool and read! I was so excited! Then came Monday night.

In the evening, we attended a meeting for my daughter's play and once at home, we were snuggling on the couch before bedtime. I looked at my son and wondered why his cheeks were so pink. Felt his head - he was burning up. 102 degree fever. Tuesday was to be my only day without anything to do this week. Now it would be spent taking care of my sick son. He's had these fevers before and they are usually gone overnight. This fever was not like that. Tuesday he spent just about all day laying on the couch and missed meeting his 1st grade teacher for next year. Tuesday night, fever was around 100. Maybe he was getting better. Nope. He woke up with a fever of 102 again. My wonderful husband saw the state I was in and offered to stay home to help me out with him so I could go out and run the errands I needed to run. Three hours out of the house! YAY! That night, son's fever was up to 103. Hubby took him to the doctor who said he has a virus. Good news, but not. There's no magic cure for this.

Today, instead of having fun at Field Day and celebrating his birthday at school, he's home with me. I hung up our usual birthday decorations and got him a balloon, my daughter put a candle in his breakfast pancake, and we took some silly pictures on my phone. He's still a little warm, but feeling much better as evidenced by how extremely active he's being. (I guess he's got 2 days of activity to make up for.) Being that it's his birthday and he's home, he's wanting to open presents, wanting to know how many presents he will be getting, just when can he open his presents? Can he open some now? Can he open some when his sister gets home? Does he have to wait for Daddy to get home to open them all? So, I barricaded myself in the bedroom to wrap. It was then I discovered that the only non-girly wrapping paper we have is Christmas wrapping paper (cheap wrapping paper that rips when you put the tape on it). OK, Merry Christmas! We're playing a game where I tell him the first letter of a few dollar store gifts I got him. Made cupcakes (which will later be topped with orange colored frosting) and there's an hour until his sister gets home from school. My will is fading... I'm an desperate mom who keeps trying to distract him with TV.

Tomorrow morning is daughter's 5th grade promotion ceremony and school gets out 2 hours early. And that is the end of my "freedom" for the summer. In the grand scheme of things, these complaints are really nothing. Which is why I'm recording them - so that I can remember what my "problems" once were. My husband has a job, we have a roof over our heads, we are all usually very healthy.

I was reminded and encouraged during my devotions this morning that "We may not know what the future holds, but we can trust the One who holds the future." James 4:13-15 offers this wisdom: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. . . . Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ ” I'll try to remember that and take life one day at a time while trusting the One who knows all my tomorrows and is there with me every step of the way.