The days roll on...

Finding entertainment while Mommy lies on the couch.

You'd think while on bed rest, I'd have more time to blog, right?  I'm sure I do, but as you can imagine, there isn't a whole lot of exciting stuff happening as I sit on the couch all day.  My day consists of a leisurely morning in bed where I try to entertain Natty through playing with her animals and reading to her until I get tired of that and send her out so I can have quiet time.  She usually comes slinking back in and asks me to read my Bible out loud, at which point she listens quietly for about 2 minutes (or less) and then starts whispering or singing to herself and her animals.  Then she disappears and comes back while I'm praying and asks me to "pray to her"...she means, of course, to pray out loud so she can hear.  It's a little disruptive, but at least she sees a habit in her mommy of spending time with the Lord each day and I love the freedom that not walking around gives me to not feel bad about sitting in bed later than usual to focus on the Word.  After showering, I take up my post on the couch with a few trips into Natty's room when she gets desperate for me to play with her.  Daily, she says, "Mommy, I want you to come in my room and sit real still."  This means that she understands I'm not supposed to be doing much, but she wants me to be with her.  She's been even clingier than usual since I've been home bound and wants to be with me as much as possible, even though we find it quite difficult sometimes to find fun things to do while I'm so limited.  We try to arrange play dates for her a couple times a week, either sending her off like she is right now (at a neighbor's house) or having other kids come by to play for a bit.  This works well and gives Scotty time to get some work done at home while I have the freedom to sit around and not be enticed to get up when I should be sitting.  I did finish a completely hand-sewn doll with clothes for Natty- one of my favorite sewing projects so far and just finished Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, which completely absorbed me for the last week or so.
There have been a few moments of distress as I've felt helpless to really play with and discipline Natty as I would like- struggling to watch Scotty do that as well as a million other things.  Sometimes I get myself settled in one spot and realize I've left behind things I want to occupy my time, but Scotty is out the door, in a hurry, with Natty and there is no one to get those things for me.  So, I sit resigned on the couch to find something else to do until he gets home.  It can be rather tiresome.  Our house help has been absent this week and we are realizing what we already knew to be true- that she is invaluable to us, especially during times like these.
We are continually thankful for how the Lord is sustaining us as a family and keeping me and the baby strong.  We are grateful that He worked a miracle in immigration to get us the 8 month permission to be out of the country when our visas only allow us 3.  If we hadn't received that, we would have lost our visas and had to start from scratch, for the 3rd time, in what is a lengthy, frustrating and expensive process.  God is so good to us!  We wake up every morning thinking about being back in the US and about this time, every time we make plans to go home, we start imaging our home country as this beautiful, orderly, exciting, magical, almost perfect place that we've been away from for so long.  It doesn't take long for our bubble to burst after getting home, but we know that it will be a great blessing to be among family and have some of the enjoyments that we don't have here, as well as the superb medical care.  We're literally counting the days.
It's hard to believe that Zion's first birthday would be next week- can it be possible that my little boy was born almost a year ago??  It's hard to separate him from the pain we experienced in his unexpected arrival and short, rocky life and as I try not to dwell on these times in order to not make myself nervous about this pregnancy, I find myself also not able to think a lot about him.  However, there is always a special place in my heart for all that God has done in me and has yet to do through his life and I am thankful to the Lord for using that little boy to change me so profoundly.  More on that in his birthday post...

I would be remiss to not mention again the amazing husband I have.  He cooked curried lentils yesterday.  He baked chocolate chip and butterscotch cookie bars a week or so ago.  He bathes Natty, dresses her, puts her to sleep, makes her laugh, talks to her animals.  He waits on me like a servant and takes Natty places with him when he knows it will be too much to have me look after her.  He continues in his great attitude and loving service to his family until he's exhausted.  We couldn't do this without him.