:: thankfulness ::

I preface this post with thankfulness (even if I've also been feeling a little worried & facing some fears at the moment) because there are plenty of things to be thankful for, and more if I take time to slow down and look around us.

One thing that is filling me with thankfulness is to see how much has been given to charity: water through my 30th birthday donation. It sounds strange to 'donate your birthday' but it's one way to support this wonderful organisation who give 100% of all the money donated to water projects in various parts of the world where people have lived with dirty, diseased-filled water sources for their whole lives. Almost one billion people!
charity: water find clean water sources near villages, saving many of the women and children from spending hours walking to and from their dirty water sources, by digging wells or creating water-filtration devices. Whatever is most effective and necessary. And people like us, who really don't need much, can ask friends and family to donate to charity: water in place of giving gifts for our birthdays. So...with 6 days to go until my birthday campaign finishes, we have reached....

US$3005!! Way to go people!!

If you'd like to join us and see how close we can get to my goal of $5000, click here. It's really easy!

On Saturday we went down the mountain to visit one of our favourite little lanes to walk along. The girls had their pushchairs and babies, and we even had the lovely company of a real baby and her mummy who is our friend.

Playing in the freshly turned dirt was much more attractive than in the grass or walking along the lane. Many times we were found tugging little hands saying "Come over here! Away from the dirt!"

A chilly wind came up. Winter really is resisting the takeover, but now that Spring is officially here (they count from March the 21st here) it's losing its grip. Nevertheless the woolly hats and scarves came out.

A little daisy-picking and daisy-kissing always makes us smile

Miriam kindly offered to take some family photos of us. I don't know when we last had photos together all in front of the camera!

A warm bottle and story before bedtime was a great way to end the day for our two little people. Both have their first real colds at the moment, which is what puts dread into my soul. Since learning of Elise's small airways, paralysed vocal chords and risk of breathing difficulties if she caught a throat infection, we've done our best, following her ENT (ORL en français) surgeon's advice to keep her away from sicknesses as much as possible. And we're very thankful both girls have stayed healthy, apart from the odd ear infection or high temperature. Of course we're realistic and can't avoid every bug...we know we've been in contact with sicknesses several times before. So now the colds have caught us...be it the change in warm/cold temperatures, missing several naps lately or catching it from someone in passing. We're going through lots of tissues and praying the little throats escape unharmed.

I know it's just a cold and all children get sick from time to time. I know that bugs can even be good in that they help build resistance/immunity...so I've been told. But I think, being a mum of babies who were born at 26 weeks with all the odds stacked against them that they might even survive, let alone make it through with perfect health and development, has it's certain stresses on the heart of a mum, not to mention a dad. And then, with Elise's paralysed vocal chords, to help people understand that we couldn't be like any normal family with children born at term, taking them out and exposing them to bugs. I've come to realise that we can't expect people to understand unless they, too, have had premature babies or children who go through any serious illness. On the other side people can't expect to only accept what we ask them to, by staying away if they are sick, when they fully believe the situation for themselves and not think we're exaggerating or making life difficult for them. It's a tricky balance! One that has caused me needless amounts of stress and stewing about in my thoughts. Thankfully, and there are so many things to be thankful for, the girls have been protected health-wise and have all appearances of very healthy little almost-two-year-olds...apart from Elise's unseen risk in her airways. So, there we go...it's off my shoulders. Thankfulness, to me, doesn't mean only focusing on the positives and skimming over the tough moments. It's more about searching through the tough moments, and the mundane-ness of every day life...the never-ending piles of laundry, lists of what needs to be cleaned, trying to figure out what to cook each day etc. etc. and seeing the goodness that exists within and surrounding every moment of life. While it was terrifying in many moments having tiny babies battling for life, and even bigger babies with more risks than the average baby-born-at-term (sometimes harder because it's less obvious to others), there has always always been more good outweighing the 'bad.'

In saying this, it's not about walking around in fear of the unknown and of the worst. It's about trusting in the One who promises us countless times that we can bring our fears and worries to Him, and not worry about tomorrow, but to trust in His love, His provision and in His protection. It something, if I'm honest, I am slow to learn, which is silly really (I forget too often that I'm not really the one in control). Because, when I look back over our journey with the girls, from a problem-filled pregnancy to their very early beginnings they (and us) have been protected time after time.

And, so with that in mind, I trust all will be well.