Friday, January 23, 2009

Lessons to be learned

Jacob has been sick all week. We took him to the Dr. twice because his Doctor Dr. Lacour wasn't able to see him the first time! He is honestly the best Pediatrician I have ever met. And I have met my fare share with working with the babies. So after missing 2 days of school we got a heavy dose of antibiotics and some Tylenol with codeine for our sweetest little boy who was in so... much pain with a swollen lymph node the size of... the peach on that picture.
You would have thought life would get better now that we know whats going on and have the medicine to treat it! Little did I know how much I could learn from medicine and yogurt.

Today my visiting teachers came and we had a wonderful discussion about this months message. Having Faith that is steadfast and immovable in... the list was from our General relief society president but the one that was most applicable to me today was being worthy of, listening to, and Doing what we are prompted to do by the Holy Ghost.

Yesterday I had the thought to call the Pharmacy to see if they could do anything, anything at all to help this antibiotic taste a little better for Jacob. I didn't do it... I got caught up in the day and when the evening came and it was time once again to take his medicine that he gages on and gets himself all worked up over. I had a plan! I thought "I" was ready to take this on. "I" had decided to be understanding, sympathetic, and kind so I started out by lovingly saying how I know that he doesn't like the taste of the medicine I tried it in front of him and agreed that it was yucky. But I told him how important it was to take it and that it wasn't a choice of whether he wanted to or not even if he DID NOT like it. He had to take it. I told him that he did have the choice to take it plain or mixed up in yogurt to hide the taste. He chose in the yogurt (good choice). I mixed it up and tried it and it worked great. Unfortunately by this time he had worked him self up so much that he through a fit and would not take it. After I don't know how long of trying to force him to do something he did not want to do... I lost the battle. I threw the spoon and yelled (something I am not proud of and quickly repented of). He ended up eating the yogurt mixed medicine and getting in his bed. When I went into lay with him I apologized for yelling and getting so upset that I let Satan in my heart and pushed the spirit right out of our home :<>"I said a prayer in my heart and Heavenly Father helped me eat the medicine... Jesus stayed in my heart mom!"
One of the things I love the most about Jacob is how quick he is to forgive and how strong willed he is. When he has his mind set on something there is no changing it. My goal is to help direct him for good! Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
So this morning I thought... great I'll just mix his med in yogurt and we will be good to go... Nope! He wouldn't eat his yogurt(med) this morning and I didn't want to go where I went last night and not having enough time to properly handle this I sent him to school happy with a smile on his face and the spirit in his heart but no medicine in his system. My thought was that his spirit is stronger than his infection. We'll deal with this when he gets home.
I asked Jacob before he left for school what flavor he wanted his medicine to taste like and he asked for BUBBLE GUM so first thing this morning I went to the pharmacy and got the med bubble gum flavored! After school I gave it to him and still he faught and complained... it wasn't pink and it still tasted spicy. I decided to not try this time on my own I knew I needed help. So I asked Heavenly Father to please help me. I asked him if he wanted it mixed in yogurt or plain. He said yogurt. So the battle began. The whinning and the crying and the screaming.... but not from me. No I was listening to the little thoughts of what to say as I gave him choices followed with conseqences. 1st he could eat it with out complaining about it and then we would have popcorn and a movie. He lost that one so Lily had to watch the movie alone. Then we went to loosing books before bed (something he loves to do) that didn't work either. So finally I sent him up to get ready for bed and told him when he came back down that if he would do it without complaining I would lay with him. He did it!!!
As we layed there talking about choices and consequeces with the spirit in our hearts Jacob said I chose the consequences tonight... it's not fun. We made a deal that if he would take the medicine, without complaining, for the next 5 days then we wont bring it with us to Utah. I sure hope that medicine stays in TEXAS!
I learned that if we want to learn or teach something it MUST be done with the spirit inable to be understood. I learn more from being a Mother aka (a teacher, an example, a leader, a friend) than from any other experience in life so far. There is no doubt in my mind why we came to earth with a Family to help us return to live with our Father in Heaven.
We must learn to love and to earn the love of those whom we are working so hard to live with for Eternity!!! I love you Jacob thanks for helping me learn what I need to so I can live with our Father in Heaven again!

2 comments:

awindowsillview said...

thanks for sharing that insight... I know you can see that Jacob is close to the Spirit, but, you have the same gift...I hope you can see that!

Slim said...

I am so glad you threw the spoon...it made me feel better because I things like that sometimes too! You are one of those moms that I look up to so much and I'm glad we can call each other for a little Love and Logic help when we need it. Your insight about learning really only happening when the Spirit is present is inspired and true. Thanks for sharing your experience!