God’s Providence

Yesterday’s recipe was a surprise to me. I wrote it and scheduled to post it last week – and forgot all about it!

Just to give a little update, things are better.

First, I want to thank you all for your concern, prayers, and insight.

After the last post, I was all set to go to work. Bags were packed and food was prepped; we even took the kids to my parents on Tuesday night so I’d be free to leave first thing in the morning on Wednesday.

Then I woke up. And I was sick. Really sick.

Low-grade fever, body aches, head pounding, throat on fire.

Blast it!

I hated doing it. REALLY hated doing it. But I had to call out sick.

For the third week in a row.

For two different sicknesses.

This is ridiculous!

I went to the doctor and she tested me for strep. Negative. In the end, I was diagnosed with viral pharyngitis, complicated by seasonal allergies.

Yay.

But remember when I mentioned God’s providence?

It showed up.

To understand how, I have to tell a little back-story that is also a bit of a confession.

I’ve lost count of the number of times someone has commented on how “organized” and “on the ball” I am.

Generally speaking, that’s pretty true.

Except in one tiny, little, GIGANTIC thing.

Paperwork.

Once Jed was born and we began dealing with his food issues, my “important paperwork” organization sort of…got completely forgotten.

Seriously. I sometimes don’t even open my mail for months. I can glance at an envelope and guess what is in it, and if it doesn’t strike me as of particular import, it gets tossed in a box to deal with “later”.

Ahem.  I had boxes of “later” paperwork dating back to 2011 stacked waist high in my office. Other than a path to Darrels computer, there was no way to walk in that room.

It was an embarrassment.

Not only that, but it made doing things – like filing our taxes – nearly impossible.

For the last 3 years, I’ve filed for an extension on our taxes every single year.

As a single lady, my taxes were filed and the refund spent by mid-February without fail. I was on it like white on rice.

The last 3 years? I’ve barely gotten them in by the October 15th extension deadline.

Yes, folks, I’m talking about doing 2013 taxes NOW.

Seriously embarrassing.

So how does God’s providence come into this?

Well. I was sick. Couldn’t really move too much because I got dizzy every time I did.

We needed to get the taxes done.

And my own personal Tasmanian Devils were happily playing at Grandma and PopPop’s house. Thanks to my parents kindness, they were even going to stay an additional night to give me some time to rest and get better.

It seemed a wise use of my “need to sit very still and not do much” sick time to simply sit quietly and sort through those boxes to find all the documentation we needed to do our taxes.

Not as relaxing as watching TV, my own personal preference for sick time, but certainly not stimulating or physically taxing in any way.

Not only did I find almost everything we needed to get our taxes done (a few receipts are missing), but I found – are you sitting down? – over $1,000 in our piles of paper!

$1,229.45 to be exact.

A check we hadn’t cashed from a few months ago. Spare change. Odd cash accidentally caught up in the mail and tossed in the box. The kids swingset fund where we’d stashed the Birthday and Christmas cash contributions given to help us buy them a swingset (which we did earlier this year, but hadn’t deposited the accumulated fund yet).

All odds and ends, but it added up – fast.

Now, thanks to Darrel still leaving the house daily, that money is already deposited (and spent, for that matter). Bills don’t wait. And it isn’t quite enough to salvage this month.

But I was also able to get our taxes finished, and as soon as Uncle Sam gets them, we will get a hefty tax refund.

That WILL be enough to salvage the month.

See? God’s providence.

It never fails.

Even better? I’m hoping to pick up some extra work assignments that will make up the hours I’ve lost in pay from all these sick calls once I’m better.

So we may  not even actually lose any income for the month.

Thank you, God, for everything.

As for health, well…

At this point I’m willing to move forward with the assumption that Zac is dealing with unusual seasonal allergies.

Mom and Dad reported that he complained of his head hurting, and that Mom would massage his scalp for a few minutes and he’d feel better and run off to play.

He had a good appetite. His poops were normal. He slept well.

So it appears as if he was just hit with extraordinarily strong histamine reactions to…something.

I’m hypothesizing weeds. Those were the only thing listed for our area as “high” on the allergy pollen count websites.

In any case, things are looking better for Zac.

Just in case, we picked up a refill of the boys diphenhydramine.

I even got a compounded bottle of some for me, too.

Since the pharmacist can use quinoa flour as a filler, he was able to make the pills with the machine instead of by hand. And that cut the cost from $1.66 to $.50 per pill.

Still expensive, but much more reasonable!!

My Mom temporarily forgot that we had reduced Zac’s foods down since the stomach bug, and fed him some banana/goat milk/sweet potato popsicles.

He had no reaction whatsoever!

So now Darrel and I feel okay about re-trialing bananas. We’ll probably start that today. Maybe not, though. He does still have some congestion.

My left shoulder pulled muscle stopped hurting. One morning I woke up and it was just fine. Whew!

Darrels knee still hurts, and my right elbow still hurts.

But we can live with that.

Thank you again to everyone who prayed for us this week.

I truly believe God answered!

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What’s your best story of God’s providence?