Multitude of Thoughts: 1.15.18

This week was hard. Hard to adjust to island life, oddly enough.
Hard to adjust to routines (which we normally crave) & hard to stay afloat amidst family sickness. Then when I feel like we are way in over our heads... I see pictures of others that are having a no doubt way harder time... so it forces me to appreciate our seemingly minor trials, get out of the pit of self pity, and pray hard for the illnesses, chemo, surgeries etc of family and friends to go smoothly.

We knew change would create a little ripple in our Hebert home, but we are thankful that week 1 is DONE & minus a few yawns & lots of tea tree oil, we survived!

{Disclaimer, I don't like to take my kids to Urgent Care.... and since we don't have our fave pediatrics here like we did in IL... I try to do as many home remedies as I can.... one common healer seems to be Tea Tree Oil... and the bonus? It smells oh so good.}

15 weeks left of Student teaching for Matt, but who's counting? Thankful that the 3rd grade team here at school has embraced him so well ( who wouldn't? he's a dream co-teacher ;)). We are thankful that since he can not work a day job, Auntie T who owns the sushi spot at the mall has graciously hired him for 4 week nights a week. Yes it makes our days super long, but we couldn't ask for a better boss with a bigger heart. Her conversation is on Biblical matters 99.9 percent of the time, the other percent revolves around sashimi and avocado, also pretty cool convo ;)

We are thankful that although Hannah was out 4.5 days out of 5 this week, her fever is gone and her fever blisters that covered her nose and chin, are healing.
We are learning a few key lessons. One- beauty is always within. This slight facial malformation for an entire week has made Hannah very self conscious. It has lended itself to great conversations about what true beauty is.
Another lesson is that in time, things heal. Yes we are referring mainly to her fever blisters, but it hit me about life things too. And the healing process is not pretty. Her face has gone from small blister, to bigger, redder, scabbier and now getting better. So when we heal in other areas- that process is a process and we need to have patience & grace with ourselves and others during that ugly looking but essentially beautiful time period.

And I love working at my kid's school. Hudson had a fever Tuesday. I got a call on my lunch break, and was able to console him ( he thought he was getting shots).

Harrison, like normal, has adjusted to the 1st school like a pro. He loves his teachers ( we all do!), and his class mates are legit. Flag football begins Tuesday, and he is looking forward to playing,

Koko has thrived outside all week! He has his bed outside our front door, and every day we find him snuggled in here. (We have not seen any lizards in or around our yard ( maybe he is eating them or scaring them away at least!) Yes we still feed him, but he needs to his litter biz on his own! Hudson now loves him, since there is a strong screen door in between :)

Thankful oh so thankful that the Missile Threat was false. I think we expected it to be false as we moved extra slowly? The real danger from that text seemed surreal- and the panic still has yet to sink in... watching the news and seeing how other's responded showed us we have much to learn as far as emergency prep.... And apparently we would have had only 12-15 minutes to survive- so all the prep and worry would be for naught if it was real. Here's to using that threat as a way to have a deeper appreciation for each moment of each day. Each day is a gift & too often I take them for granted.