the sun shines through the storm.

First of all, update on our dear Alyse.
This morning her temperature was down to 99, Praise the Lord. And as I write this, it's back up to 103. Gah.
It had finally gone down, but that didn't cease her coughing and moaning and not eating or drinking...
You'll have to understand she hasn't eaten in 6 days. She drinks all she can, but she doesn't have an appetite, and so anything she does eat usually comes back up if she coughs to hard. THAT'S how hard she's been coughing. So as long as she keeps nibbling bits and pieces of things and stays hydrated...we'll see what happens.

As we're all freaking out, praying, trusting God in this, practically everything around us is doing the same thing. "Take her to the ER!" they say..."Get some IV's in her. It'll do her good..." they say. Yes, I know they're trying to help, and we're doing everything the doctor told us which is NOT to take her anywhere as long as her temperature is somewhat down... but even they can't fully understand all the thoughts and emotions our family is going through, and what ALYSE is going through. Even we don't fully understand that. The thing that never ceases to capture me is...her faith through all of this. Her trust, her assurance.

I'm known to freak. If something goes out of control in my life, I get angry. Or if I get majorly sick or something really bad happens, enough to miss out on events with friends or church or school, I get frustrated and tend to complain about it, and actually ask repeatedly, "God, why'd you have this happen? I don't understand!"

As God said to Job, we're not in place to question God that, to doubt His amazing abilities and control throughout the situation.
Through all this, Alyse's faith never ceases to amaze me. Who knows, to her, this might just be another sickness that she has to endure, and she might not be going through any of the "Why, God?"'s or anything of the sort like I tend to do. But on the outside, it seems like she has amazing trust through this. She, along with Mom, keeps in mind the assurance we have that God will work everything for the good of those who love Him(Romans 8:28). We may not see the tiny picture, but somehow...this virus Alyse has, this emotional testing for me, and this struggle for my Mom are all little brush strokes in this giant picture.

And throughout all this, all this stuff God is sending my way in order to make me trust Him...I'm getting there. It's a process, understanding God's love and trusting Him through everything.

The faith of a child...that's what I want. The faith of trusting God throughout everything, that may have come just because the child has no regrets, nothing really major to worry about yet...or just pure faith in the One that loves them.

Last night while babysitting some kids of parents involved in a Bible study from church, the 3 kids were all on the couch reading(such lovely children...ha) while I was drinking my tea and blaring Switchfoot on the stereo(hey, the kids should learn this stuff...). My partner for our "day care" system was gone that night, so it was only me on the job. Which didn't scare me...lets just say I was happy the sun took it's time while setting.

Anyways, while they were reading and "Dare You to Move" played in the background, one of the kids randomly stopped, put down her book, got on the floor and knelt and folded her hands and started praying! "Thank you Jesus for the sky, and the food you gave us...thank you for the beautiful flowers and the grass and everything you made..." etc. And afterwords, "We should make a prayer group! You wanna pray with me?" She was too quick to change her mind before I could join her, but I was simply touched by what she did. I wasn't quite sure why. Because a lot of emotions were running through me that day? Because of the faith she showed? Because of the simple act of praying to God was that important to her?! It was amazing! And she put me to shame.

So often do I take for granted the ability to pray to a God...that listens! That actually ANSWERS me! Have you ever thought about that?
You're not just praying to a golden statue, hoping that you'll get some sort of sign back as an answer..."Ohh, it's raining and there's some lightning, Bob. Looks like a no for you."

Uhhh, no. Even though we may not get the answer we want, or the answer WHEN we want it, God promises to answer and listen to our prayers. The little girl in front of me, while I stood there with my cup of tea with my jaw wide open, the way she sang "How Great Thou Art" along with me and the stereo(after Switchfoot, mind you)...it really moved me. Practically to tears, but I held it together not wanting the kids to freak out, "ARE YOU OK!? SHOULD WE CALL 911?!" because they'd definitely do something along those lines.

I want that kind of trust in God. That even though everything may be falling apart around me, I can remember(and stop forgetting...gah) those blessed assurances I learned as a child...that God will never leave, never change, and will always listen.

The urgent care clinic called us today with Alyse's test results back from Saturday when Mom took her in with the 105.3 temp. It turns out Alyse has a staff infection centered in her throat(cause of all the coughing), and they're giving us some antibiotics that should probably wipe it out. As we speak, Mom and Alyse just got home from getting some chest xrays for her in case the staff infection may cause pneumonia or something worse. She has a 103 temp. Apparently we won't get results back until tomorrow, so I shall keep you all posted. Until then...we'll continue to pray and trust. God is good.

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The sun was ACTUALLY shining today!!! :) And according to our weather forecast, it's suppose to be sunny all tomorrow and throughout the week, which I'm SO happy for. Apparently(recorded on March 16th), WA had 15 full days(4 hours or more) of rain in the month of March, from March 1st to March 16th. Uhhh, yes. I am totally ready for some sun. I think Spring is on the horizon. ;) Yay for warm weather-finally.

In reality, the sun shined through the storm today and WAY more many ways than one...

Tomorrow I start a new class, due to exploratory rotations, photography. ;) I'm really excited, and for all of you interested, I'll be posting the pictures I take on facebook and probably some on here as well. I took the class 2 years ago, and due to the instructor coming down with pneumonia(seriously, that and strep throat are going around our school like wild fire...), photography was canceled last week. So I'm really excited for tomorrow!

Tomorrow...AWANA. That's everything else that's tomorrow, aside from another brutal algebra test(God rest our souls)and science test on volcanoes. Bright side? We get to start making volcanoes on Friday. :D Which should be a blast(no pun intended).
Today was our ever-so-dreaded history test, which actually went way better than I thought it would be. Last night after babysitting I studied until 11 or so, and then was told I needed sleep to fight off the various sicknesses around me. In other words, I pretty much thought I was gonna bomb it. But it ended up(I seriously have NO idea why...)that I knew every answer on the test. Every one. Not counting the various current presidents of wars in the 1800's that I might have messed up...everything else was pretty much clear as mud. So we'll see when our grades get back.

Aside from that...stay beautiful, all my lovelies. Thanks for being here for me.
Love you all. :)

Loves!
Remey.