Another One Bites the Dust

Have you ever noticed that bad things tend to come in groups of three? It happens that way at our house. And yesterday it all came crashing down, resulting in a very uneasy, grumpy, unhappy day for me. I'll indulge myself with a factual few paragraphs of whining, then I'll tell you why I am looking at life from a different perspective today.

Back in May I developed a urinary tract infection. But I was babysitting my friend Carol's two girls while Carol was in the hospital having a baby, and I didn't want to try to take 4 kids to the doctor with me, especially since I knew I'd have to pee in a cup. How do you explain that one to a 4, a 5, and a 6-year-old? So I waited 3 days until the girls went home. Big mistake. The infection worked its way up into my bladder and kidneys, causing excruciating pain. I took a powerful antibiotic and the infection went away. Unfortunately, it recurred last week and I'm back on antibiotics again. To make a long story short, stress, coupled with 2 back-to-back antibiotics, has thrown the healthy bacteria balance in my body way off. Not good. I have a systemic candida yeast infection. Not painful, but very uncomfortable. The treatment: more medication, plus no sugar for a month. When I say no sugar, that means I can't eat anything that has more than 1 gram of sugar per serving. That's almost everything. Poor me! I will experience birthday #29 with no cake. Boo!

Yesterday morning I took Deb-Deb to work. When I got home, I noticed a ginormous wet spot on the driveway where my van had been parked. Not good. The transmission on the van has been skipping quite a bit recently, and has been reluctant when shifting out of reverse, or into drive. Matt came home at lunch and confirmed my worst fears: the transmission has finally given up the ghost, spilling it's tranny fluid guts all over my driveway. I cringe to think what this is going to cost to repair. Poor pocketbook! Poor old van.

And the plot thickens. I went to my room to get on the computer to print my lesson plans for yesterday, and was greeted with a blue screen. Not good. I tried to restart it, went through the troubleshooting, only to learn that there was no longer an operating system for the computer. Really not good! Matt took the computer down to Best Buy (where we have a service plan), and found out that for the second time in 18 months, we need a new hard drive. I thought of all my pictures and momentarily freaked out. Then I remembered that I backed them all up last week, except for the pics I've taken in August. I scrambled for my camera and was relieved to discover that I have not formatted my memory card since July, and all my August pics are safe. The only bummer is that I will lose all my lesson plans. Two months' worth of lesson plans gone to the hard drive heaven in a landfill, or else handily recycled by some eco-conscious citizen. Oh yeah, and I'm without my link to the outside world for a week to ten days. Poor me! Poor 'puter. (Thanks, Deb-Deb, for the loan of your laptop today!)

So why am I so cheerful today? Because Nastia and Shawn got gold and silver last night! Woot! No really, I'm cheerful because I know God is in control. My history has taught me that when God allows hardship into my life, He has something to teach me, and He always shows up in a big way. Yes, I whined a bit and mildly lost my mind for a few days (I am human, after all). But now I'm really okay. The girl is learning, God! Once again I wonder how people can cope with life's curveballs, without God to lean on. Some may say Christianity is a crutch. If it is, I'm thankful I have it, because I could not stay standing on my own. I prefer to view it as the strong, gentle hand of a loving Father holding me up as I limp along. I rejoice today for the presence of God in my life.