Small prayers... large blessings!

I had to take a few moments today to count my blessings. Before I do that, and in order to understand why, I must back up and give some background to the past week or so.

Mike is taking off today for another business trip. If I have to work while he's gone (and this time I am working two shifts), it always adds a lot of stress to me because it means making arrangements for the kids. Both nights are school nights and... well... it's NIGHT TIME. I don't like leaving my kids at night... ever... unless of course they are at home with their dad. This ALWAYS stresses me out. So this has been weighing on my mind. Thankfully, my friend Jodi has offered to take care of them for me. What a blessing!! This works well because my boys go to school with her kids so she will get them off to school for me in the morning!

I had to work this past weekend. It's been a little bit crazy at work. Our level II nursery status went live and wouldn't you know it, we've had patients! For the entire month of February, I've spent all but one shift inside that nursery. It's a smallish nursery and being in there for 12 hours makes for a long shift. When you have to do it three nights in a row, you get a little bit stir crazy. The first weekend in February I spent 36 hours in the nursery and I did it again this past weekend. By Monday morning, I was going nuts. I LOVE my babies and I just need to get used to being in there for long periods. When I worked in the nursery at my last hospital, it was MUCH bigger and I had a lot more people to talk to. In this case, we keep it dark and quiet and there are only two of us in there.

Add to this the fact that I slept VERY poorly over the weekend. By Sunday morning, I had a raging headache. And add to all of this the fact that I was stressing out about a lot of things...

I was stressed about Mike leaving. I was stressed about Evan's school work. He has a book report/diorama due this week and we haven't worked on it. I was stressed about Ethan. The cub scout Blue & Gold dinner is this Wednesday and he is supposed to decorate a cake for that event. I was also heartbroken because Mike will be gone and I'm supposed to work and this meant that Ethan would have NO parent available to be with him at his dinner. I think he will be getting his Wolf rank that night and my heart was bleeding, thinking of him being there without either of us. I knew that I would be TIRED on Monday because the kids were home for President's day and I was already exhausted from the weekend. That would leave only Tuesday night to work on the diorama and cake. Add to ALL of the above the fact that money is tight right now and I don't have loads to spend on fancy cake decorations or diorama parts. It all just added up and I felt ridiculously overwhelmed.

Through tears, I finally just uttered a prayer and asked that everything just work out. It was a small, short, but very emotionally fervent prayer. And after that, I left it in His hands. Then came the miracles...

I got home Monday and took a 3-hour nap. The boys played video games and were SO GOOD during that time... no fighting at all. I felt bad that I had to spend their holiday sleeping, but they seemed okay with it. Sadly, Mike had to work that day. I woke up feeling very well rested, which is a miracle in and of itself since I had gone days with poor sleep. I immediately got to working on the diorama and book report with Evan. I thought if we could even just get a start on it, that would be something. Miraculously, we finished the entire thing using materials we had on hand at home... and had a lot of fun in the process. It wound up being a family project... we all had a hand in it. But most importantly, Evan enjoyed the process, we all had fun, and we got it done ahead of schedule!

This morning, one of my coworkers GRACIOUSLY agreed to work the first two hours of my shift tomorrow night. She did this on a last minute basis and I almost cried when she said yes. This brings me the greatest peace of mind. It means Ethan will not be alone tomorrow night for the Blue & Gold dinner and it means that I can take video and pictures since Mike won't be able to attend either.

We got the cake idea figured out and miraculously, it is going to cost me a grand total of $4.25... that includes cake, frosting, and all necessary decorations! I had some stuff on hand and Jodi is loaning me her cake pans (I don't have the necessary size) so I don't have to buy pans.

It's all just come together and I think I can live out the rest of the week, stress-free! Even the smallest of prayers are heard. I am grateful and thankful for the blessings that come from faith and prayer. I am continually amazed at the blessings I receive and I continue to see and acknowledge the hand of God in all things!