Finding Thankfulness in the Stomach Flu

My sweet Emily is sick.  She was filled with personality yesterday with a few tantrums (really nothing different than most days---she loves her tantrums).  We went to church and on the way home she cried the entire way.  Not completely unusual there either....since it was past her bedtime.  We got home and put her to bed still acting very normal.  She began to whimper a lot---not usual.  I went in there and she pointed at her rocking chair and said, "chair."  I asked her if she wanted me to rock her and she said yes.  She fell asleep, I put her back in her bed and she began whimpering almost as soon as I put her down.  I felt good in that moment because I thought that she just needed her mommy.  Turns out she needed me, but not in the way I thought.  We had a very rough night. 

Let's just say I did seven loads of laundry---I'm sure you can put two and two together. Brian and I didn't sleep.  After every incident she wanted to watch a little show.  We would let her watch some and fastforward through it as well.  She also cried out for "Agua" frequently.  Since this is her 4th time with the stomach flu we have learned that she really needs it in small increments---so when we told her no to her request for more we had a whole other saga going on. 

So, where does the thankfulness come in?  My child is relatively healthy on a regular basis.  It really hurts me to see her so broken, so sick, but I know there is an end in sight.  I just can't imagine what it must be like for some of these other moms that spend so much time in the hospital because of their children being so ill.  I appreciate their strength.  I admire their courage and I hope their children know just how wonderfully loved they are.