My eldest boy had a nasty accident a couple of weeks ago when playing a game at his youth group camp. There was an unfortunate collision that resulted in four bones broken in the middle of his foot (look away now if you are squeamish!).
After a week in a cast, the follow up x-ray proved that the bones needed a bit of help to realign, so surgery and wires in the bones were the plan.
We've just come home from 4 long days in hospital - there has been lots of waiting, lots of pain, lots of awesome hospital staff, but most of all, amazing lessons around thankfulness learned.
A few weeks ago my awesome pastor (who just happens to be my husband *wink wink*) shared a message about Thankfulness (go here to listen).
I'd been pondering on it ever since, and am amazed at how much it has changed my outlook on life, even when my son had his accident.
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I was so thankful that it was his foot and not his neck that had been broken.
I was thankful that it happened during the school holidays, so that he didn't miss too much time off school.
I was so thankful for New Zealand healthcare - free!
As we stayed in the hospital waiting for our surgery spot, and the hours stretched into another day, I was so thankful that he was a healthy kid overall - so many little sick babies and children were around us.
I was thankful that the surgery went well, and soooo thankful for great Dr's and nurses and pain relief!
When your day gets rough, it's honestly amazing the difference that a thankful heart makes.
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Last week the Bearded One and I took a trip down to the big smoke all by ourselves. My amazingly awesome Mum & Dad looked after our kids while we attended a gathering/mentoring week for senior pastors called Gathering of the Generals (it was absolutely amazing!).
While down there, we made sure we squeezed as much fun/time together that we could, whenever possible.
When you have a busy life with kids, sometimes the silence and lack of household chores to do can really come as a shock... a really, really nice shock.
Some of the things on our check list to do/try/visit were:
The Yellow Brick Road, Cronuts, Circus Circus, Bubble tea, Dress Smart, The Hard to Find Secondhand Book Shop
I didn't get to try Bubble Tea, and I probably need to point out also that only 1 thing on that list was actually Symon's.... the rest were mine (although he did enjoy his half of the cronut).
But it was good to get back home, and we celebrated with homemade sushi and Peanut Butter Banana Bonbons...
We are still taking a couple of days to get used to the loudness of the kids again (and the photobombing)...
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To be frank, it's all rather exhausting...
But it's good to be home.
Thank you to the amazing team who organised and ran Gathering of the Generals, thanks to my amazing parents for looking after our tribe, and a big Happy Birthday to Symon's Mum who celebrated her 75th birthday while we were away!!
