Rhodes Christmas...

consisted of...
-Music
-Games
-Meaning conversations
-Noise
-Laughter
-Flavorful foods
-Warmth
-Snow
-Fox and Goose
-Coziness
-Gifts

Christmas Gift

Beauty around 3039...

Ugh

So. The gastrointestinal virus struck our entire family. Mean old hateful spiteful virus. I HATE this virus more than any other sickness! Hopefully we're in the clear, and hopefully we haven't spread the bug to anyone else.

Updates

So, it must have been the sulfite, unless it's a 48 hour contact bug. Thank you God!

Also, the puppy's name is Felix. What do you think? He really is a happy little pup that shakes with excitement whenever he spies someone that might pay him some attention.

Nastiness

Yuk. Last night Elliot came down with a sudden bout of intense vomiting after he went to bed. We were very surprised because he hadn't shown any symptoms during the day of feeling ill. He even ate a big supper and big bedtime snack. Then two hours later he was throwing EVERYTHING up, and continued to do so intermittently for the next 4 hours, including diarrhea. So I'm desperately praying that this isn't some sort of gastrointestinal virus that's going to make it's rounds in our family...

Elliot really was a little trooper through the whole thing and was really sweet, wanting to "snuggle" with me after each episode.

Today I washed about 6 loads of blankets and pajamas...yuk. At least it's a nice warmish sunny day to air dry the laundry!!

But here's my question. Have any of you heard of sulfites causing vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps? For a bedtime snack Elliot ate quite a few (probably 5?) dried apricots that had sulphur dioxide in them (that's the only thing we can think of, as we ate everything else he ate). I found something on-line that mentioned people, particularly children, with sensitivity to sulfites may have vomiting and diarrhea. Crazy. I'm definitely throwing the rest of the apricots out! And I don't think I'll be buying any more of those ever again.

Please don't be a stomach virus!!! I don't want to go through this again with Vincent tonight, then maybe me, then Martin....NO, PLEASE, NO!

But I Don't Want To

"But I don't want to (insert directive given) Mommy/Daddy!", says Elliot in a really whiny voice. When told he needs to obey anyway, he bursts into tears and really loud crying, sometimes evoking his little brother to begin crying too. Or maybe he decided to totally ignore the directive given. Argh. Frustration. Deep sigh of impatience that comes from dealing with a whiny boy all day long.
Here's hoping that this is just a stage. Here's begging and trusting that God will give us wisdom, patience, and an extra measure of unconditional love.
Does this sound familiar to any of you? (Just to make sure we're not alone!)

Why, Oh Why?

Why was I so impulsive the other day?????? This little puppy follows me around everywhere, from room to room, whimpering for attention, under my feet whenever I go outside. Boundless energy. Yippy barks. Whimpers. I don't need more demands for attention, and I don't need something else to redirect and discipline. Why, oh why did I get this puppy? Please remind me....!!!!!!

Oh, that's right. Because I love my boys, and my boys love playing with the puppy, pulling his tail, grabbing his skin, poking his eyes, pulling his ears, holding him in their laps, patting him gently, stepping on his toes (they'll learn eventually, sigh). Goodness me, the hold my boys have on my heart. I do love them!

Puppy

I can be impulsive, and this puppy is proof. Yesterday I went to a local greenhouse to buy a poinsettia as a gift for someone, and lo and behold there were these cute little puppies sitting right outside the doorstep. The boys immediately started holding them and having a grand old time playing with them when a girl working at the greenhouse steps outside the door and asks "Do you want to take one home with you?" To make a long story short, she's a saleslady (well actually, she offered the puppies for free), and we went home with a cute little Jack Russell Terrier puppy in our car. The boys are having so much fun playing with their puppy, so hopefully that will offset the crazy whimpers it makes and the training it will take to keep him calm, gentle, and to keep him from digging in our garden!
Now we just need to settle on a name....so far the suggestions from the boys, namely Elliot, have been Zen, Rock, and Zess. I like Jack, and Martin likes Russell and Soren. Any more suggestions?

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Thus far the Christmas-y look in our house consists of a beautiful poinsettia plant (well, it was more beautiful until some rowdy boys knocked off several stems...) which was a gift from Mom and Dad Rhodes, and this Gingerbread House that the boys decorated yesterday - with actually very little assistance from me. I mostly supervised how much of that delightful sugary stuff went into their mouths! I think they did pretty good, don't you?

"I want to see God".

Philip babysits the boys once a week, and he shared the following story from his time with them yesterday:

A fun story to share with you from yesterday. Elliot inspired me. We were sitting there at lunch and he looks over at this little figurine that Betsy bought of Joseph and Mary holding Jesus. It's a 10,000 Villages item from Peru. He asks, "Is that God?" I say, "Yeah, which one do you think is God?" He points to Joseph. I say, "No, actually, the little sleeping baby is God. That's Jesus. The man and woman are his parents, Joseph and Mary." He goes back to eating a little bit and then says, "I want to see God." (It's too far away for him to reach). I say, "After you get done eating you can see God. Your hands are dirty." And then he does what Elliot does best: repeats his wish over and over again: "I want to see God" Pause. Eat. "I want to see God." Pause, eat. "I want to see God." etc. etc until he's finally done eating. "Ok, go wash your hands." (Runs and washes hands, comes back). "I want to see God." I scoot it over right in front of him and he just stares at it in wonder (and silence!) for a long time.

"I want to see God" kept repeating in my head throughout the afternoon and will continue to do so for quite a while. Thanks for your persistence, Elliot. :)