The Gray Haze of January

Here in Columbus the months of January and February always seem to be draped in a gray haze. Literally. It's just gray here. It's not hard for my mind and heart to begin to match the climate. Thankfully, so far, it's not too bad. I've been happy about getting some projects done around here and getting into some more intense (and fun) schoolwork with the boys. It's nice to have time at home without so many activities.

However, it seems that the gray haze always carries with it lots of cruddy germs. It seems that everyone we know has been sick and now it's our turn I guess. We've had a round of basic colds, but yesterday the boys started running low grade fevers and feeling punky. After taking some cold medicine last night, Adam was wired and basically stayed up until 2:00am. Of course Ray was up at 5:00am as usual. We laid low today... took long baths, read books, played games, watched TV. This afternoon all three of us fell asleep for THREE AND A HALF HOURS! So, we'll see how the sleeping goes tonight. My head has begun to hurt and I'm achy. So I guess it's my turn. Please pray that none of this develops into full-blown illness AND that Jon doesn't get it. Tax season is here and he has lots and lots of work to do. For now he'll sleep on the futon in the office, drink lots of OJ, and try to stay healthy.

Fortunately, I was able to accomplish a big chore today.... packing up the Christmas stuff and storing it under the basement steps. It had been thrown into the basement storeroom and was driving me crazy. I conquered that battle and began sorting and organizing a bunch of other basement-dwelling detritus, mostly art supplies. So, even though we have taken a few sick days from school, some things are getting done. Hopefully we'll be back to our learning routine tomorrow.

For now I'm trying to take it all in stride and accept this illness-imposed "retreat." Every once in a while God slows us down so we can know His presence and hear His voice. He reminds me of the folly of so much of my busy-ness. He holds me close and lets me know that it's ok to just stop, sleep, rest, and be loved.

Take some vitamin C today and try to stay healthy. If you live somewhere sunny, soak some up for me!