My Fortune

While I am only a little bit past my due date, I have never gone past my due date before, and the doctor has been expecting me to have this baby any day for the past three weeks. So, while there is nothing to worry about, I feel like I've been waiting (along with everyone around me) a long time for this little one to come.

On Sunday, the choir sang "Be Still My Soul," and I was reminded to "with patience bear thy cross of grief or pain, leave to thy God to order and provide." (You mean I'm not in charge of this?!) And "The hour is hast'ning on... when sorrow (is) forgot, love's purest joys restored." (Some minutes it is easier to remember the sorrow to come more than the joys.) Much of that song seemed particularly well suited to calming a very tired woman who feels large with child and has no idea how soon the Lord will send a tender mercy and make her "mighty even unto the power of deliverance." (see 1 Nephi 1:20)

Apparently, I need multiple reminders that the Lord is in charge of this. Because they keep coming. My favorite happened yesterday.

Miss M came home with a fortune teller. Remember those papers with colors and numbers you folded in 2nd grade? Well she is in 2nd grade. Young A used it to tell my fortune. Here is what it said:

"Good things come to those who wait, you will be one of the waiting ones."

I found it terribly amusing.

What a week!

Hmm... What should I tell you about the past week? Should I tell you about the awful cold/stomach flu that crept through the entire family leaving lots of laundry and croup and congestion in its wake? Or maybe you would rather hear about the leaking water heater that left a large puddle of rusty water on my basement carpet and no hot water in two thirds of the house? Should I mention that we had family visit in the middle of the fun? Or maybe about how I fell down the stairs as I went down to show the insurance guy the damage? Or how about the two times I thought I was beginning labor only to have everything stop once I told my husband?

I think I would rather talk about what a blessing it was to have my nesting energy hit just in time to be able to stay up at night with sick kids and still function during the day. I also found it amazing how my intermittent contractions stopped for days until the last child was finished with the majority of her bad night.

Did I mention how grateful I am for family that wanted to be shown around a new house, including the seldom ventured into basement, allowing us to find the puddle quickly and dry everything out? I am especially grateful that she then helped with the children while I made phone call after phone call and showed person after person the damage getting it cleaned up. I am very grateful for a hot water heater that runs only part of the house and continues to work.

I am also amazed at how quickly my arm that was wrenched trying to stop sliding down the stairs healed. (Last time it took much longer.) And, thanks to the fact that my baby decided to wait just a bit, I had a marvelous sleep last night and am feeling almost healthy again. What a blessing to have a rested, healthy body for labor rather than an exhausted, sick one.

I have been astounded at how abundantly the Lord has blessed me this week, turning a very difficult experience into another example of His careful care of me.