I've really been loving my time home with Teddy. He had some sickness the first week or two I was home. He had an allergy attack that quickly turned to a sinus infection and 4 days later he came down with an ear infection. Then as soon as he finished that medication his fever spiked and his ears got way worse, was seen in walk-in hours at his doctor's office and then the ER a few hours later because his fever continued to spike and his ear got red and tender to the touch. They told me that his middle ear infection must have spread to the ear canal. Fortunately we went back to the ENT on Monday and they did a culture and gave ear drops. A few days after ear drops and continued antibiotics and he was so much better! Turns out that he just had normal "swimmer's ear" bacteria, which is NOT the bacteria which causes middle ear infections. So it did not spread and resist treatment. He's never been underwater and has only been in clean water (bath tub and our kiddie pool which is fresh water each time) so it makes the most sense that he scratched his ear canal at some point because he had definitely been digging in it.
2 weeks later and still healthy and fine! Well, he has said twice in the last week that his ear hurts but he's also sticking everything way far back in his mouth. Yesterday he carried around a tooth brush and munched on it all day. Today he started clear drainage and refused lunch. He had like 5 gold fish that I gave as a last resort and one bite of cheddar cheese. I'm going to give him his allergy medicine again tonight just to be safe because he did sneeze a few times but I think it's his 2 year old molars coming in. I'm going to try to feel and look around in there but he doesn't usually let me.
I've been having a rough few weeks even though Teddy is better. I broke out in a rash on my face and ears the other week. After a few days I was pretty sure that I narrowed it down to my sunscreen. So I went out and purchased a natural one. The next day I had a little bit of a rash on my face, neck and ears but I woke up with horribly itching hives all over my arms. It stopped where my shirt sleeves started, I applied the sunscreen on my whole arm though. No hives or rash on my legs since my skirt had been ankle length. The doctor thinks I might have a sun allergy. We can't really test it until the hives go away completely though and then we'll test if it's the sun or the sunscreen. It made me super exhausted too and is giving me some gastro complaints as well. But this week has been much better and I've definitely got more energy to get things done.
The biggest update is that Doug will be starting a much better job soon!! He interviewed the other week for a job and at the time they were talking about giving him a really good position. Then someone else more qualified was interviewed later and Doug wasn't selected for that position. They did offer him something lesser but after paying for insurance he'd be taking home the same or less than now. While insurance can be great, it can also not be worth it. You pay monthly premiums, high deductibles, co-pays and then a lot of time they deny testing and medications, surgeries etc. Also, his hours would rotate between first and second shift, he'd have to do overnights pretty often and couldn't be guaranteed to be off for church. So while it paid more, had more room for advancement and offered insurance (his current job does not), he declined the offer. We just put it on God's hands and new something better was out there for us. That He would see us through. That was last Friday. On Sunday before church they called and offered the original position they had spoken to him about in the interview but in the next town over. It was going to be 10am-7pm or so and Mon-Fri, $12/an hour, with benefits. The regional manager didn't call back the next day to confirm a start date because he wanted to sleep on some things overnight (we found that out later). Instead he called him on Tuesday and offered an even better job. Assistant manager of the fast food franchise which is salaried and is going to be at least $500 a more a month than that other offer. He will work longer hours, have a longer work week and it won't be Mon-Fri but he will be off in time for church most of the time (barring any sudden catastrophe). There's still a chance of doing overnight every once in a while but since he's a salaried manager he will not be the first to be called in if there's a need. There are also very impressive quarterly bonuses . And there is definite room for advancement and then he can make his own hours. Seriously, doing the math on what we'll be saving we might have down payment money for land and money to build in a year. Doug met with the manager and saw how the store is run and is confident it won't be like his last restaurant job where everything was so mismanaged and is stressful. This store is rated one of the best in the state. At his last job he was hired to try to turn the place around, not a problem at this store!
So excited and so blessed! God truly is an On Time God!! This last year has been rough and there have been times when I've been kicking and screaming and digging my heels in during this journey. But there has also been a lot of growing. A lot of time being able to get priorities straight, to having a quiet enough life to be able to listen to God, to let him carry us and to give up our pride and independence. Like the parable of the shepherd that goes after the lamb. You know shepherds sometimes have to break a lamb's leg so it will not wander off into danger where it can be attacked by wolves and will learn to follow the shepherd. He will carry that lamb across his shoulders and in his arms and when that leg is mended the lamb has learned to love that shepherd and will never leave his side. I feel like that's been our experience this last year. We've made it through serious loss of income, loss of home and items, had to declare bankruptcy, lost everything we once showed our independence and could ensure a happy future. We had wandered too far off, been in one too many scrapes with the wolves and our Shepherd finally had to make us settle down and spend some time with Him.
