Year 8, Week 7: History, Flu Shots and a Mom Jar

     If I thought last week was a blur, this week was a blink!  Between an orthodontist appointment, flu shots, audition prep and recordings (back to that in a bit), lessons and discussions going longer than expected and making phone calls for even more appointments...it seems Friday arrived sooner than I wanted it to.  Typically, I start writing on Tuesdays, a bit of brainstorming but I'm writing this on Friday night struggling to get the words out because my brain is trying to hit the pause button on everything.

Friday!

      The flu shots are what threw my schedule off.  I wanted to time the flu shots and audition just right.  I usually don't get flu shots for the kids.  I'm not an anti-vaxxer but I also don't just automatically let my kids get every vaccine available to them.  I used to work at a hospital with a doctor and team who were doing clinical trials on a vaccine for Hep-C.  I am...informed.  Where ever you stand on vaccines is your business.  You do you, Boo.  I'm more in the "let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food" camp while utilizing vaccines that are tried and true, which is why we lean Paleo a majority of the time and I make sure I know EXACTLY what shots my kids are getting.  During cold/flu season I have them on a regimen of elderberry, probiotics, vitamin c and bone broth.  I did it for them two weeks before and even during our summer trip.  I much prefer to pay the farmer instead of the pharmacy!

     Anyway, because of this current crazy Covid season I figured the kids could use the extra help, so I called the doctor to schedule an appointment.  I decided to bring them after recording Little Toughie's audition. The couple of times they've gotten the flu shot they would run a mild fever and feel lethargic afterwards.  Not a great condition to be in when trying to sing and have stage presence via a phone recording!  Mind you, all week I had been working with my daughter to find the right place to record this audition.  We had to figure out a spot that would provide the best lighting AND wouldn't pick up any other noise (i.e. dog barking, phone ringing, airplanes overhead.)  We tried outside at different times and while the lighting was great, the noise not so much.  At this point, when I made the call to the doctor, we still hadn't found the prime indoor location for this audition.  At first the medical staff said next week was fine and we were set for Tuesday but I immediately received a call back asking if I could bring them in that afternoon.  I could sense a little urgency in her voice....perhaps they were already booked to capacity on Tuesday?  Perhaps she had a feeling they may run out of the vaccine by then?  Either way, I went ahead and scheduled it for that day and then had to scramble to get the audition done.  I was hoping to have them get their shots AFTER the audition just in case they had a reaction.  In the end everything, thank God, went well.  We found the top spot, only had to do two takes (I spent more time setting up my phone and tripod), saved it everywhere so that I could upload it when we got back from the doctor and then got their shots.  It's all history now.

     Speaking of history (did you like that segue?) if I had to name my top three subjects in our homeschool (Bible aside...because that's a lifetime thing) it would be read-aloud, writing and history.  It's reading other people's writings!  You know what I mean.  Plus, when reading history you can see the failings of civilizations, of countries, of leaders, of governments...of men.  Often, after reading our history lesson, I ask the kids what they would have done differently.  I ask them what was the root of that historic decision and most of the time it's greed...greed for power, greed for money, greed for fame.  But even deeper than that is the root of self...at our core we are all sinners, wanting to serve ourselves.  Don't believe me?  Picture a two year old, maybe even three, who took a bite out of one of the cupcakes on the table.  Mom asks the child, whose mouth is smothered with frosting, whether or not they ate a cupcake.  We've seen the videos...that kid says no even though it's evident they did.  Now, did that parent hold their child and stare lovingly into his/her eyes and say, "I can't wait to teach you how to lie!  It's going to be marvelous...your first lie.  Just you wait."  NO!  That child innately knew how to lie.

     Okay, apparently, I'm in a mood.  Like I said, Friday got here quick and for someone whose brain keeps trying to hit pause, apparently there's another part of it trying to say EVERYTHING.  I'll have to come back to that 👆 some other time.

     Back to history...even in the midst of those failings you see conquerors, heroes; the humility in serving, the power of giving, the peace of a kind word, and at the root of all that is LOVE.  It's rare to see that now.  If love were our driving force right now things would look and feel different, no matter the political party or who is president or whether not we should be wearing a mask.  If....IF love... unconditional, pure love were our driving force we wouldn't be where we are right now.  But we live in a society where everyone has to one-up the other, get the last word in, prove that they are right by attacking others, and of course greed.  The same kind of greed the kids and I have studied in history still present today.  We're so full of self that there is no room for obedience to God, there is no room to learn how Jesus conquered death out of His great love for US...sinners.  Every.  Single.  One.  (Romans 3:23) 

     How would our history look if right now, right at this moment, instead of being bull-headed we all chose to be a blessing?