February 8 – “Ike Flu”

Sunday.  Church day.  It's always really good to see the people who I know care about me and my family.  It's been especially good at Seaside.  It's one of those rare places where you can go ahead and be yourself and know that the people around you will love you anyway.  That's what the church is supposed to be for everybody.   This afternoon I worked on a new version of church bylaws that reflects what Seaside has become.  Several years ago the church asked a group to come up with a new set of bylaws that describes the separation of the covenant community's operations from what has in America become a protected administrative organization.  I'm fascinated by the church anyway, so this has been an interesting study for me.  Maybe someday we'll get Seaside to officially adopt it.  In the meantime, maybe I can include it in the next edition of my book (A Seaside Saga) – if that ever gets written.   I spent several hours on the couch with Chris trying to crunch numbers and see what part of the cabinets we can actually order and still have enough money left to get into the house.  It is extremely frustrating to try to stay on budget when you want to use whatever extra there might be (like there's going to be extra) on the cabinets, but we have to order them by Wednesday if we want them to arrive by the end of March.  This is one of those times when we're supposed to learn about taking a leap of faith, I guess.   One highlight of my day was when I got to hold Cailyn for awhile.  She has a cold.  Bad cough.  Everybody says it's rare for a newborn to get sick like that.  Somebody today said there's something going around they are calling "Ike flu."   Unexplained virus.  High fever.  Vomiting.  Dehydration.  Cody Allen has something like that and it put him in the hospital.  He's doing better now.  Supposed to go home tomorrow.  I pray Cailyn's OK.  We heard from Josh and Christi yesterday.  They were on their way to the emergency room up in Fort Worth with Caleb.  He was running a fever and was listless.  Sleeping all the time.  They said he had a cold, too.  Thought that was supposed to be rare.  And he couldn't have Ike flu, could he?    In Matthew 19:14-15, Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."    Father, take care of our little guys.  And protect our island from that Ike flu stuff.  Amen.