Nearing the End

I think we’re nearing the end. Not of this craziness we’ve been living, but of my sanity!

Several things have piled up on us here at the Reynolds home in a “perfect storm” of a trial:

• We have a newborn in the house, so Vivian and I aren’t really getting more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep at night. Vivian will readily admit that she doesn’t do well on little sleep. I don’t particularly enjoy it either.
• Quin is sick with what started out as a viral infection that has since morphed into 2 ear infections. So he’s miserable due to the illness.
• Quin is having to adjust to having Camren in the house. That can be hard on any firstborn (as I’ve heard) even when they’re healthy.
• Vivian had a c-section delivery. So she’s dealing with the pain and recovery.
• Vivian and I agree that we really want Camren to be breast-fed as much as possible. So Vivian is having to deal with that stress (ask any mother who chose this path – breast-feeding is a lot of work).
• I either caught Quin’s viral infection or I got a head-cold of my own. So I’m pretty miserable during the few hours that I get to sleep at night (or nap) due to post nasal drip and the head congestion.
• This is all occurring in a season of life where I’m out of work and looking for a job.

It all reminded me of this goofy line from Christmas Vacation.

I don’t know if we’re on the threshold of hell or not. I know I didn’t read about this kind of thing in Revelation, so I don’t think this is one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Maybe it was in Dante’s Inferno and we’re in one of the seven circles of hell (?)

But God is still good and meeting us in this time of trial. In all seriousness, we’ve been blessed with a wonderful second boy. A boy whose inner clock is still backwards, but wonderful nonetheless. And Quin has really been a healthy kid. I believe this is only his second ear infection. He just doesn’t get sick very often.

We’re dealing with the trial and looking to God for our strength. There’s just something about the double whammy of sickness and exhaustion that can really push you to the end of your endurance. Folks from our church have been very kind and have been delivering meals to us so Vivian isn’t having to cook (or deal with my cooking) nor are we having to order take out over and over again.

I’m also aware that a 2-year old and a newborn in the same house is nothing unique. It’s actually a pretty common age split so we aren’t the first to walk this road. It’s a bumpy road, that’s for sure.