(Warning: Forver long post, but it gets pretty good). :-)
It's been FOREVER since my last blog post. I promise I haven't gone AWOL... yet. The past few months seem like a blur. Our life went from semi-normal to off the deep end! It's taken me awhile to just find the time to sit down at my computer and even type this post. Let's start from the beginning...
Around February Ben started feeling sick. He wasn't sick like go to the doctor sick, but he just wasn't feeling good. He was tired and had a nagging cough that just wouldn't seem to go away. After about a month of that, he wasn't getting any better so he decided to go to the doctor. They put him on an antibiotic and gave him a steroid pack and off he went. Let me remind you, Ben is rarely ever sick. Even if he gets sick he's over it in like a day. (Yeah, he's one of those people, hate him). Well, he didn't get better. So off to the doctor he went again. This time they gave him an antibiotic shot and a steroid shot. Another few days passed and he still wasn't better. He went back to the doctor and they did lab work and a chest x-ray. All of his labs came back normal, but he was still sick... Actually he was getting worse, not better. So the doctor told him he had a couple choices, he could see a "pulmonologist, infectious disease or be admitted in the hospital." The doctor preferred that he be admitted, so that night he was directly admitted to our local hospital. While he was there he got to see our pulmonologist who happens to be one of Ben's friends. (We were happy about that... we love Dr.Bob). While he was in the hospital, they performed all kinds of tests. At one point they did a couple EKGs and pulled cardiac enzyme labs because his EKG was showing signs that he could of had a heart attack!!! Yeah, I was a little a lot freaked out. They put him on telemetry and monitored him throughout the night. He was very tachycardic, but he wasn't having any chest pain. Thankfully his cardiac labs came back OK. They did an echo on his heart to rule out pericarditis and other heart issues. Pericarditis could not be ruled out, but after rounds and rounds of i.v. antibiotics and normal labs, they sent him home. They think he had some kind of virus... maybe coxsacyvirus. Whatever that is. He's just now starting to feel like 100%... finally! After he was discharged from the hospital the doctor wrote him off work for another week. During that time he ended up losing his full-time job. It's a long story, but I think it's the best thing that could've happened. Ben wasn't going to slow down unless he was made to and him losing his job, made him slow down. I think that's the only reason why he's finally starting to feel better.
So, since he's the main provider for our house, we kind of freaked panicked! But, you know, The LORD knows all and He has provided for us. Ben was able to pick up more hours at the hospital (yes he worked two jobs, one full time, one prn, as needed) he lost his full time job, but thankfully his prn job picked up. He's still on the full time job search. We're praying that a certain situation works out and he will get this one full time job that he wants.
As if all of that wasn't crazy enough, Ben and I have been praying about my job situation. I've wanted to stay at home with the kids and he's wanted me to stay at home with them, but we've always thought that I needed to work. Well we've been going through Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey) and living on a budget and I started selling Lia Sophia a few months ago and that's been going really well and I've had a couple other things to come up that offered us extra income, so a week ago today, I QUIT MY JOB!!!! It sounds absolutely insane, yes, I know! But, my GOD IS ABLE TO PROVIDE ALL MY NEEDS ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY!! It was a HUGE step in faith, but I'm so happy to be home with my kids. We've always been on a schedule, but it's just been so much better now that I've been home. I've been meal planning our dinners for awhile, but since I quit my job, I'm meal planning for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We're having so much fun. This was definitely the best decision Ben and I have ever made. We're incorporating bible time with the kids and I've been making my own household solutions. It's been WONDERFUL!!! I know there's going to be days where I want to pull my hair out, but I wouldn't trade being home with them for anything! I'm also hoping to blog more. I love my blog, but obviously I go through spells where I don't blog for months! I'm hoping that will change. So, if you've stayed with me this far, I'm hoping to share recipes, meal plans, cleaning solutions, my kiddos and other happenings of our household on here so I hope you stick around. Thanks for all the prayers! We've felt them!! It means so much to have great friends who stick with you through thick and thin and hold you up in prayer!! We're forever grateful!!
