What a Weekend, and Not in a Good Way

So, if you are a facebook friend sorry for the redundancy. If you are a IRL friends, the same to you. If you have been around our family in the past fourteen days, I deeply apologize as we did not know we were carrying around and sharing strep throat. Wowsers, that strep throat is some nasty, horrible stuff and I could go my entire life without experiencing that ever again. To my knowledge I have never had strep before.
Last weekend, I had had two kids that had cold like symptoms but they had rebounded within twenty four hours and seemed fine. We went about our merry way Monday to decorate Valentine's Day cookies and on Tuesday we had Valentine's Day plans with friends (a post will follow after we finish with house recovery) and church Wednesday night. I did take a long nap Wednesday but I thought I was just tired from not sleeping well the two nights before. Thursday I didn't feel well but I trudged through the morning and took two of the Blessings to an afternoon meeting while the rest of us went to the grocery store. By the time we got home I was exhausted though I still attempted to get the family room in order. My eldest daughter, Elisabeth, took the vacuum out of my hands and begged me to lay down saying that she and her sister would vacuum and mop the floor. I was thankful that I had made a hearty breakfast and we had had a pretty good lunch because there would be no dinner made that night. Elisabeth made a plate of leftovers for Benjamin and got him bathed and ready for bed. Levi helped with bedtime for Benjamin and I went to bed when the Blessings did. Friday morning I felt worse and ached from shoulders to toes, thankfully my head never hurt, I took a  warm bath and spent the rest of the day on the couch trying to get warm. Benjamin started looking a little sickly and felt warm to the kids so Benjamin and I went to the clinic, we both tested positive for strep and I opted for the shot. That was a good choice. Elisabeth woke up miserable sometime during that night and we were back to the clinic with everyone else Saturday morning. Antibiotics for everyone, not what I love but necessary for this us at this time. We spent Saturday and Sunday resting and watching way too much television and movies. Monday was much of the same with just less television and little spurts of energy for beginning the cleaning up and sanitizing process. Tuesday we all felt much better and even though I am not back to full energy I feel much better and look forward to a good nights sleep tonight.
Why do I feel the need to share my sickness saga? I will tell you. The days often seem long and the teaching, training and parenting seems to be bouncing off the walls and out the door, never landing inside the brains and hearts of these Blessings. There is always something to be thankful for, even on sick days. I learned that my teaching is not in vain, I needed this glimpse into the hearts of my children as I have been very discouraged of late and second guessing every Now to help them realize that they can do this even when I am not sick....