What is God Trying to Teach Me?

Wow, another crazy week, but that's becoming the norm!  It feels like it should be Friday, but it's only Wednesday.  Here's what's been happening in our lives so far ...

Hershey:
Yesterday, Guillermo had to take Hershey back to the vet because she was vomiting up her food in the evenings.  My initial thought was that the medication was upsetting her and it was probably a side-effect of the meds.  The vet watched her yesterday and they determined that it was probably the meds too.  Of course, that was after they did some x-rays, of course.  Poor thing, she came back home and now has new food and some new meds.  She kept her food down yesterday, so we are hoping and praying for the best.

Guillermo:
Well, Joshua had been "dying, dying, absolutely dying" for a Nerf Gun for his Birthday.  We told him when he was 6 he could have them.  We figured Michael would be almost 3 and probably wouldn't eat them - LOL.  So we got Joshua this really cool pack of 6 small Nerf guns (you load the darts one at a time, which I liked).  So last Saturday, October 23rd, we are playing as a family in the family room with the guns and the whistling darts that go with them.  We didn't get the eye gear stuff, which looking back, we should have found something for them ... I just didn't want to shell out 20 bucks for 2 eye gear things from Nerf.  I was pretty sure that they wouldn't wear them and they would break within 20 minutes.

So Guillermo accidentally shoots Joshua near the eyes.  This irritates Joshua and he tried (on purpose) to hit Guillermo back in the eye.  He tried 3 times before he did it.  He was quite proud of himself.  However ... Guillermo wears hard contact lenses.  Getting hit in the eye was not good, especially considering his hard contacts lenses.  Thankfully, Guillermo somewhat saw it coming, so it didn't hit him square in the eye, just to the left of it.  It still hurt though, that's for sure!

We really should have stopped playing, but we continued on.  I decide to hit Guillermo and I'm terrible with my aim ... I was shooting for his chest/arms and I end up hitting his eye.  Oh boy, I feel terrible ... it was the same spot Joshua hit him in earlier, but this time he didn't see it coming and it hurts, badly.  Guillermo has several minutes of darkness in his one eye.  Which is so not good!

I immediately tell the kids to put on their shoes ... I tell Guillermo we should stop by his eye doctor right away.  We finally get over to the eye doctor.  She takes a look and dilates his eye.  Thankfully, nothing was damaged in the back of his eye.  The white part has a bump on it from the dart.  The swelling should go down she said ... poor Guillermo.

Well, he still has a small spot in his eye that is dark when he is looking at things.  He said it's not too bad, but that the doctor said it might not go away, or it might.  He said she said the fluid in the eye is what was making it puffy/swelling.

So on top of all that, Guillermo a few days before started wearing new hard contact lenses.  His prescription changed a little and they ordered him new ones.  He got them and they were a little strange, but he wore them anyway.  Well, this week his eyes began really bugging him, especially the one that got hurt.  His contacts felt terrible and he wanted to go back to the eye doctor.

So yesterday, Tuesday, after taking the dog to the vet, he goes to the eye doctor.  The doctor takes a look and realizes that they gave him one contact with the special coating and one without.  The contact without the coating is the one that was bugging him and he now had a deep scratch on his eye because of it.  UGH!  Poor Guillermo!  He now has to wear his glasses (which are old, he was planning on getting new ones, but hadn't ordered them yet).  He now has to have eye meds and stop wearing his contacts for probably at least a week.  Oh yeah, and the eye that was scratched, yep you guessed it, it was the same eye that got hit with the dart.

We went to 2 different eye glasses places and found out that his prescription is not typical and that he would have to have special lenses.  Costco couldn't do them, so we went back to the eye doctor today to see how his cut is healing and to pick out new glasses.  The new glasses will look good on him and he should get them back in about 7 to 10 days.

Guillermo has to continue his eye meds and hopefully, the cut will heal without any damage.  Poor Guillermo!!

Michael:
He's such a strange little boy ... today he decided that he wanted to not wait for a waffle to be toasted - he wanted to eat it frozen.  And he did, he ate the entire thing frozen.  Crazy little boy!

He is now really into the mommy play with me stage.  So now I have to spend extra time each day playing trains, reading books or whatever else he wants me to do.  The other day he comes over to me and says "Guess What Mommy?"  I have no idea, so I say "What Michael".  He says "I Love You Mommy!"  He can be cute when he wants to, that's for sure!

We have the Patch the Pirate Kung Fooey Kid Music CD and we've been listening to it a lot.  Michael now kicks the air and says "Kung Fooey, Kung Fooey".  It's so cute!

Michael is also into the Why & No Stage.  He's difficult to discipline and very stubborn.  He cries about everything and loves to whine.  I'm so ready for the terrible 2's to be over but I'm not sure if I'm ready for the terrible 3's either - LOL.

Sara:
She's such a delight!  She brought her coloring books with her this morning when we went to help Guillermo pick out his new glasses.  It was so cute watching her intently color.  She loves to sit and color ... so precious!

She's enjoying preschool.  Yesterday, one of her school friends had a birthday.  So Sara said that she's celebrating it today and that so far it's been a good birthday - LOL.  She also got a calculator as a present from the birthday boy at school.  Can I tell you that Joshua & Sara were fighting over it.  Joshua wanted it for his homework and Sara wanted it because it was hers.  Oh boy ... they worked out a deal, Joshua can borrow it next week for his homework, but Sara gets to keep it in her room because it's hers.

Sara loves doing her preschool homework.  Each Tuesday we come home with it and she dives right in and colors and works on her letters.  I love it!  They are beautiful pieces of art :-)

Joshua:
We had parent teacher conferences last week and got his report card.  He's doing really well and we are so proud of him!  We are delighted that his teacher really enjoys having him in class.  His teacher said that Joshua really keeps her on her toes, but that she's enjoying that part of his character.  Joshua still needs to work on stopping when his name is called.  I almost feel like we should puppy train him ... Joshua ... here's your treat, Joshua ... good boy, here's your treat ... Joshua ... good boy - LOL.  Do you think it would work??

He's been complaining a lot, so I'm breaking out the "complaining circle chart".  Also called the "sin chart" from the kids.  Each day he doesn't complain he will get a sticker and each day he does complain he will get a black circle (called the sin spot).  They so don't want black "sin" spots, so they seems to do well when I bring out these circle charts.  We are also doing one for Good Table Manners too because I'm tired of them putting their feet on the table and frankly, behaving badly at the table.  Hopefully, by the time Thanksgiving comes they will sit properly at the table and not complain :-)

Okay, so finally I come to me ... Katricia:
Well, I titled this What is God Trying to Teach Me?  How on earth does this fit into what I've typed above?  Good question!

I'm not exactly sure what He's trying to teach me.  It's been a LONG 6 weeks of constant stress with Guillermo working endlessly.  He's been working at least 4 to 5 nights a week in the evenings from 11pm to 3am.  It's been back to back nights.  The worst part is that they expect him to wake up and be on a conference call at 9am to discuss what he did at 3am.

I'm a very light sleeper and for some reason once I've been woken up, it's difficult to fall back asleep.  So we both have been sleep deprived for about 6 weeks.  Some nights we do get some good sleep, but most nights we don't.  Although, I think the past week, we've gotten a little more sleep because Guillermo's work project is finally starting to wind down.

I love Guillermo and I'm thankful that he has a job and provides so well for our family!  I totally feel bad for him that he has to work these crazy hours.  It's effected his sleep, his health, his eating patterns, and his attitude/mind-set.  It's effected my sleep and my attitude (I find that I've been grumpy with the kids and with him too).  While Guillermo does his best to not bring work stress home, just the fact that he goes to bed so late provides stress.  I do my best in the mornings to let him sleep, so that means I'm driving Joshua to school, making him lunch and getting him ready.  Normally Guillermo drives him to school.  So I'm doing my best to fill in the gaps and do what it takes to keep things going.  So it's been stressful ... but we have survived (not as graciously as we could have, but I'm not perfect and neither is Guillermo).

So the other day, Guillermo and I were talking ... something we haven't had much time to do lately.  He was saying why are we going through this again?  It's something that happens every 6 months or so in our lives I think.  He said what are we suppose to learn?  What is God trying to teach us?  Frankly, both of us are tired of going through these up & downs with his job.  We aren't getting any younger you know :-)

Those questions make me pause and think ... what have I learned from this?  Well, this time around I've chosen each day to say things that would cause a fight with Guillermo.  I've chosen to not "push his buttons".  I've chosen to not react badly when he's irritated with me and looking for an argument.  It's a decision that I have to constantly be on guard about because it's easy to let myself have a bad attitude or pity-party and give into a fight.  I've chosen to seek God.

In the past, when things get crazy/stressful, we fight because things annoy me/irritate me/I say things or push his buttons/I get grumpy.  I've learned to be less selfish this time around (I think).  Honestly, the hardest part about him working nights is that he spend so much energy & effort into work that the last bit he has to give goes to the kids.  I feel that I tend to be ignored.  Not that he wants to do that to me, but that's the way it goes.  In the past, oh boy about the 3rd week I would be so miserable and unhappy at being ignored, that I would get angry.  Then we would fight.  This time around, I've learned to push through those feelings and not let them fester.  I've also learned thanks to some amazing Bible Studies (Breaking Free from Beth Moore, One in a Million by Priscilla Shirer, Ruth: Loss, Love & Legacy by Kelly Minter, and Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl by Lysa TerKeurst), books and sermons to let God fill me up.  I've learned that it is my relationship with God that defines me, not my husband or my circumstances.  I've learned that God can fill all those empty and sometimes lonely spots in my heart.  I've learned that God never designed Guillermo to fill those empty and lonely places, that's not his job, it's God.  I feel like I've grown up a lot with God in the last 11 months since I started Breaking Free w/Beth Moore. 

I've been more intentional on relying on God and not on Guillermo.  I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned and this time around I've not only got it in my head but also in my heart.  I've chosen to not dwell on what I want, but what is right and good for the sake of Guillermo and my family.  I'm putting God 1st and going to him for assurance, blessing, comfort and sanity :-)  He's provided and has been amazing ... I pray that every time I'm faced with the lies that Satan loves to tell me, I hope that I will remember these crazy last 6 weeks and remember how God's been faithful.

It's funny, we really are going through the same things we went through last year.  We've had money issues (thanks to the dog, new glasses and just plain old life stuff), we've had health issues (my ear infection & his eye cut, plus we've all had a terrible cold/cough that lasted about 4 weeks), we've had lack of sleep issues, we've had attitude issues, we've had kid issues ... and yet through all of it we haven't given in to fighting.  It's been amazing!  All of those issues one on top of the other in the past would have driven us down an ugly road, but this year, Praise the Lord, we haven't drifted off the road.

So I think God is teaching me and I'm finally listening and obeying.  Guillermo's learning stuff too, which is way cool.  This time around, he's speaking out more at work and not "taking" all the junk they dish out.  I'm not sure what else God is teaching us, but we have been faithful to Him and He's been faithful to us.  We have so enjoyed the sermon series at Cornerstone Fellowship about Restoring the Soul a Study on David's Life.  Those messages have been so timely and have stayed with me throughout these weeks.  God called me (us) to hear those sermons and I'm glad we answered/obeyed Him.  He's blessed us and has filled up our cups/minds with His Word.

So that's my life ... the good, the bad and the ugly.  I hope you've been encouraged as you read about my struggles ... I hope that you too will intentionally seek God!