Pensées from Paris: Family life with the stomach flu

It's been an interesting night so far. Our 4 year old is currently sleeping on a tumbling mat in the middle of the living room. He was sleeping on the green sofa to my left, until he vomited the contents of tonight's supper on it. I got a quick lesson on carpet cleaning for that one. He since has thrown up two more times, but in smaller doses.

While I was trying for a couple of hours to get our 2 year old to go to sleep, my wife started feeling ill. Until moving to the bedroom a couple of minutes ago, she was alternating from the blue sofa on my right and the bathroom. She's not feeling well, which is not good for our household, as she's the glue that holds everything together.

If there is a bright side to this, it's that the Winter Olympic highlights are on all night. I didn't have time to watch anything live during the day. It looks like it may be an all nighter for me, since I'm currently the healthiest one around. Praise God for a cast iron stomach and a low necessary sleep quotient.

Earlier tonight I was frustrated with my 4 and 2 year olds, as they haven't gone to bed easily during the past week. I've "lost" a lot of time trying to get them settled down and they've required more hands on attention at bedtime than normal.

As they were both sitting on my lap in the rocking chair in their room around 11:00 p.m., I was frustrated with them. But then I had the thought that my life is so much better with them in it than it was before. Certainly they drive me bonkers at times. But they also bring lots of laughter and joy into my life, as well as hope and direction for the future. My present and future are increasingly tied with helping them discover and achieve their present and future destiny in Christ. This entails taking each day as it comes, in sickness and in health. Someday they may be helping me with the basic bodily functions in my old age, just as I help them now in their infancy.

Big sis holding Elizabeth for the first time