The Good, Bad, and In-Between of Holiday Break

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great time over the holidays.

If you are like me, you make grandiose plans for breaks. "We'll have special family time," I declared with hope prior to break.

"We'll make great memories. We'll laugh. Nothing can stop our fun! Nothing!"

Then poof. A cough. Gasp!

If you have been a long time reader, you know that a cough and a cold is not simple with Jaycee's lung conditions and heart history.

Jaycee with her new doll

Jaycee's cough went to wet and junky sounding within the first 48 hours of break starting. That meant breathing treatments every few hours followed by airway clearance. Alarms from the monitor went off at night. Dirty sheets from unspeakable horrors were waiting for me several mornings. Two trips to the doctor were required, and one call to the pulmonary doctor was made. Christmas gatherings and plans had to be adjusted for the girl who needed to be close to her machines and emergency medicines. Everything during break was planned around her medicine schedule.

Yep, none of that was fun, but I'm thankful she recovered at home.


On the bright side, my husband and I did manage to go on a date since my mother volunteered to watch our children. We had a respectable grown-up dinner, but I did miss coloring while waiting for our food to arrive. We watched a movie and awkwardly sat next to each other. Usually, we sit Jaycee between us in case she gets scared during the movie. We hadn't sat next to each other in a theater in so long, but we had settled into each other's company before the 20 minutes of previews ended. A date night was exactly what we needed after the week we had. We enjoyed what was our 2nd or 3rd date of the year. (We aren't exactly role models for dating in marriage.)

I did love sleeping in past 6 am during break even if I was getting up in the middle of the night because Jaycee was alarming.

It was also great to watch a few movies at night with my husband after the kids went to bed. God bless you Sully and your awesome water landing skills!

Elijah playing his new tiny piano

Jaycee and I were thrilled to watch Beauty and the Beast three times. I helped Elijah with a Minecraft Lego set and received a great deal of information regarding Steve, Ender Dragons, and other things that I still can't comprehend.



So, everything didn't go as planned, but we still made memories. We still had quality family time. We had moments of fun and laughter amidst the illness and stress.



Several years ago, a pastor who is now in Heaven preached that he never had a bad day, but sometimes had bad things come up. Every day God gave him was good no matter what happened. He believed this even when he battled health issues that ultimately ended his life. His philosophy on life still challenges me.

Some not so great things happened over break, but I won't be calling it "bad."

The kids jamming with Jaycee's new tambourine

We are all still here and got to be together. That sounds great, doesn't it?