How long is Winter?

Once the weather turns so cold that I cannot wear my flip flops anymore, I tend to become even more of a homebody than usual. I like to hunker down, fill my cabinet with various teas, reintroduce recipes for stews and soups, and surround myself with good music and audio books. Since I am at home with the kids, they tend to follow my lead. It isn’t unusual to see them strewn about the house reading, drawing, listening to podcasts or audiobooks. While there are comfy upsides to my winter mood, I do have to admit that my pulling away from the outside world isn’t always the healthiest. I tend to hunker down and hibernate a bit until I have the rejuvenating effect of the sun back on my face. (Hint:: Hint:: this is my lame excuse for not posting.)

So what have we been up to this Winter, from November until now????? Alot.

In November, after four years of not visiting, we spent almost a month with my parents. It was delightful to be with them. It was amazing to share life, and laughter, and new experiences.

The largest Christmas Tree in Orange County, California, The Great Park in Irvine for some horse riding and visiting the Christmas village, hiking the top of the world in Laguna Niguel and Laguna Beach, picking all of the amazingly ripe oranges off of my parent’s tree, and of course, getting some In-N-Out Burgers.

Looking back on these pictures it makes the rough part of it almost bearable.

Within the first week there we all came down with the horrible respiratory virus that everyone was catching late last year.

Never one to pass up an opportunity, Maggie decided she needed a feel for the medical community in California. After an extremely high fever on our first night in town, we visited the “rapid process” line in the ER. 3 hours later, they informed us that Maggie’s ear drums had burst during the flight and she had two raging middle ear infections, one that was beginning to close up her right ear canal. They prescribed her medicine and said, “She will need surgery when she gets back home.”

You may wonder, “How could you miss these issues?” I ask myself this all the time. Let me tell you her symptoms previous to the fever: happy go-lucky, with a stuffy nose, randomly saying “What?” (She is a bit of a stinker, so we couldn’t tell if she was just pulling our leg or ignoring us.), mild cough, and crying for a total of 20 seconds on our descent into Orange County. Maggie’s pain tolerance is high.

We communicated with our medical teams in Wisconsin and Springfield and got her care underway. Thanks be to God, within two day of antibiotics her right ear canal opened and revealed that it had not burst. Once we got home, we received more great news, her left ear drum was completely healed. But then… she caught another virus, and another virus and another virus. Since our return she has been battling more ear infections and sinus issues.

Thankfully, we have another ear tube surgery on the books. Her last tubes served her well and fell out on their own. For 6 months after their removal, she had no ear infections at all, but that was during COVID. Once we started resuming normal activity, she started catching anything and everything her immune system could get its hands on. In order to keep her as healthy as possible before surgery, she has a very limited schedule. No homeschooling co-op, only Church, playing outside, and small errands and doctor appointments.

So here is where I will interject my prayer petitions. We are in the last two weeks before her surgery and she has seemed to have caught another virus. Can you please pray she remains fever and infection free until her surgery? Can you pray for a successful surgery, with no hiccups? Can you pray for an opening of her eustachian tubes and for her hearing to return to normal?

I appreciate it and I know that Maggie does too. Maggie gets that prayer works and she has her own beautiful and blossoming relationship with Jesus. At mealtimes, even when she isn’t in the happiest of moods, she will pause and say a blessing over her food before taking a bite. She will remind us to pray if we come to the table and start digging in. When we get within sight of our church, she will shout, “Jesus House!” and chant, “Jesus House Today!”, to which we reply, “Hey, Hey!”.

I will be posting again later to update you all on Maggie’s birthday which is coming up and some other great happenings in our lives. I really appreciate and love you all, and I send a special thanks to those who asked, “Are you going to update?” Thank you for being Maggie’s prayer warriors and champions, her miracles are yours too.