Evan and Lindsay just took the older three kids to the library this fine Saturday morning, and since Jack is napping, I'll just sit meself down and write a long overdue post! The wind is roaring around our house so loudly you'd think a freight train was bearing down on us. It roared ALL NIGHT LONG and made me and Evan sleep fitfully, between the noise and the draft creeping in through the window at the head of our bed. Didn't help that Jackson was a little restless too. He slept seven hours straight the night before, but lest we get too excited about that accomplishment, he changed his tune last night. Honestly, the Lord must give moms an extra dose of adrenaline to keep them going after nights like that.

There was more than adrenaline keeping me going last weekend, though. Many of you know Jackson was in the hospital for four and a half days with a respiratory virus called RSV. It manifests itself as a bad cold in children and adults, but in infants it can be life-threatening because their tiny little airways get blocked by mucus. (His cousin Daphne had it a few weeks ago and was also hospitalized. Jack just wanted to keep up with his cousin!) We took him to the ER last Friday morning in the wee hours when we saw him laboring to breathe, coughing, fussing, and feverish. How incredibly good the Lord was to have prompted Evan's mom on Thursday morning to drive down and help out with the kids. It was actually a sick Tucker that made her come, since he was in pretty bad shape at the time with an ear infection and flu. But her coming was so timely as it allowed me to stay with Jackson in the hospital till Tuesday afternoon.

I actually kind of enjoyed the whole hospital experience. I hated being away from Evan and the kids and felt for Nana and Evan and Aunt Lindsay as they cared for sick kids here (yep, Jed and Chloe came down violently ill over the weekend too--then Nana and Evan), but it was actually almost a therapeutic time for me because there were so few demands on my time and energy. When Jack was awake or being fussed over by nurses I was tending to him, but he slept a lot so I had time to take little naps, read my Bible, watch some TV (only at night! daytime TV can be so raunchy), read a novel, and wander down to the cafeteria. My melancholy loner side didn't mind the quiet too badly, but by the end of the time I was practically chasing down nurses to get some people contact. I even became good friends with several of them. One night I called my friend Jenna to thank her for providing dinner for the family, when I realized I was rambling and she probably had stuff to do other than talk on the phone. :-) Evan was able to come by every day, sometimes for several hours at a time, even giving me a few chances to go home and hug the kids and gather more clothes and things (thankfully my room had a shower!).

Jack is doing great now. At his follow-up appointment yesterday the doctor said he was just fine, there was no junk in his lungs. Thank you all for your prayers for him and our family. I certainly felt the prayers buoying me up through the weekend and keeping me cheerful and hopeful. I had some special times with the Lord through the time and felt His love and care. Jed and Chloe are on the mend now from their ear infections, and yesterday morning we were actually able to do school. Tucker is still not 100 percent. He keeps complaining about his leg hurting and he's constantly fussy and clingy. I'm beginning to suspect a gluten allergy and am going to see what taking him off gluten does for him. I'm already on a gluten-free diet, so doing the same for him won't be a big deal. We miss our sweet, cheerful, happy-go-lucky little guy!

I decided after last weekend that I want to be an RN when I grow up! I've always been fascinated by medicine and have wanted to do something in that field, but after watching the nurses work and even assisting them at times I know now it's something I might actually be good at. It certainly wouldn't work for this season of my life right now, but it's fun to dream about it maybe happening when the kids are grown.

Okay, kids are in bed, Baby is contentedly digesting his meal on the couch beside me, and Evan is out doing pastor duty. So we'll see how far I get here. I have written so many mental blogs over the past few weeks but alas, sitting down to write them out is not so easy.

Some of you have been wondering how things are going, what life is like in the Jones household now that we have four little urchins. Well, overall it's going surprisingly well. But it also depends on what time of day you ask me. I'm losing track of the times lately that I've had a meltdown at dinnertime (a.k.a. Arsenic Hour--for reasons you'll soon see). Usually this pleasant feeling is brought on by a feeling of utter inadequacy--there isn't enough of me to go around! Around dinnertime it seems that the whole world caves in and everybody needs a piece of Mommy--Jed needs his software turned on, Chloe just stubbed her toe and needs sympathy and a Band-Aid, Tucker desperately wants to be held (ALL THE TIME!), Jackson is screaming for HIS supper, and I haven't started on dinner yet--which has to be by a certain time so Evan won't be late for a meeting. However, I have a secret weapon--AUNT LINDSAY! Over the past few weeks she has developed an uncanny knack for coming over at just the right time. On Monday night she came in just in time to scrape me off the floor and let me cry on her shoulder about how I hated being a mom and was SICK OF MY JOB. In her wisdom she didn't try to offer platitudes, which wouldn't have done a bit of good, but just held me and let me cry and didn't judge me. When I was functional again she went to see what she could do to bring the household back to order. I am so very grateful for her and for her friendship.

Evan just got back from his meeting and we're going to watch Fellowship of the Rings, or as much of it as our exhaustion level will allow. I'm pretty tired most of the time these days, since Jackson is nowhere close to sleeping through the night (though thankfully he does fall asleep quickly after his midnight feedings). But it's a different kind of exhaustion than you feel during pregnancy. I can function quite well on the level of sleep I'm getting; my brain just doesn't function at its best and my eyes feel bleary. But this too will pass!

The other night at our young adults' Bible study Evan asked us all to open to Exodus 3, the passage about Moses and the burning bush. Silly me opened to Genesis 3, the first few verses of which are about the fall of man. So I was shocked when Evan announced that this was one of his favorite passages in the Bible. I said, "Are you serious?! I hate this part!" Everybody drew back in shock, thinking they were about to witness a marital spat right then and there. Then I realized my error and we all had a good laugh. Boy, did I feel stupid! I'll blame that one on lack of sleep. :-)

If you look closely at this picture of Chloe and Jackson, you'll notice that Chloe has one ear pierced. Yes, that's right, just one. I took her to get them pierced several weeks ago, and so low is her pain tolerance that she wouldn't have anything to do with another one once the first one was done. I tried every trick in the book to try to change her mind, and Aunt Lindsay even took her one night to try again, but no bananas. Oh, well. We'll get it done one of these days.

Jackson is a wonderful little baby. Nursing is going really well and he's pretty easy to please. The kids adore him. Gotta watch Tucker around him, though, or he'll literally love him to death.

Well, I'm off to the Shire. Talk to ya later!