Flu, Snow, and Ski

Last week began the Plague on the Lind house.  Axel had a fever, so Matthew and I took turns watching him at home on Tuesday.  Then, by Tuesday night, I went to bed early, only to wake less than two hours later with a fever.  I proceeded to sleep and be feverish for the next 24 hours.  Levi came home for lunch with a fever on Thursday, and Amelia jumped on the bandwagon with a fever on Friday.

Friday night, Matthew needed to take the kids on an errand, got them all bundled up and Levi stood up and promptly fell into his sister and began twitching.  It turned out he had just fainted, but not knowing that, I was out the door to get help in less than a second.  Wow, we are so blessed here – in less than 30 seconds our apartment was filled with more medical professionals than Levi would have had had he been sitting in the nicest hospital suite in the country!  We are very grateful for our friends who literally rush to our aid to help us out.  Levi was fine – just a little dehydrated after a very long nap that afternoon.

Saturday, I was home, still weak and coughing, with three sick kiddos while Matthew went out skiing.  Saturday night, Matthew came home (after quite the adventure skiing – a bus backed into our friend’s rental car and a tree had fallen across the road, adding an hour to their drive home)…with a fever!  Sunday was a day on lockdown to keep the plague at bay.

Oh, did I mention we got three feet of snow on Sunday?  Three feet, most of it fell in less than 24 hours.  It was really fun, from the droopy eyes and coughing lungs of our flu-filled home.  Actually, Amelia and I did manage a walk downtown with my teacher, Anne, just to see what it was like.  We got wet, but the fresh air was nice.

Anyway, back to the sick house…Monday, I headed back to class, abandoning Matthew and three sick kids.  Actually, the kids seemed to be doing much better, which was actually worse for a full-on sick Matthew, who could’ve used lethargic children on his day home, instead of normal, bouncy, cabin-fever-filled energetic ones.  But, whatever.  Monday night a friend was able to drive me to the grocery store, since our supplies were completely out and starving the fever is not the same as starving the stomach.

Tuesday – breathe – we paused the sickness (because we can?) and went with the whole school on a ski field trip.  Axel stayed in the nursery here, with all of the other babies – he’d been fever free since Saturday, so he seemed good to go.  Levi and Amelia were super excited.  Amelia was especially whiny, but Levi was gushing about how he would go faster than a race car once Daddy showed him how to ski.  He surely did go fast, and loved every second of it.  Amelia, however, after a couple of runs down the beginner hill with Matthew, got even more whiny, and cuddled in Matthew’s lap in the snow.  We had brought all of the ski gear in a plastic tub, so we cleaned it out and made her a nest…and she was asleep in less than ten minutes!  She proceeded to stay in the tub for the rest of the day, completely content, even if a little sick.  She slept on and off, enjoyed some snacks, and just rested.  I stayed with her and watched the boys ski down the hill and up the magic carpet tube.  Can’t really mind the location or the perfect weather we had (zero/32F, sunny, no chilly wind).

Today Matthew and I have been focusing on making the house feel normal again, the kids stayed home from their normal morning classes (we always have Wednesdays off), and I’m about to sit down to catch up on my homework while the kids are all napping.  Tonight we welcome a friend coming from Boise, so we’re really excited to host our first guest here in France!  Hopefully she stays plague-free.  Next week we began another two-week break from classes, and my brain could really use a chance to catch up on all its been taught!

Please continue to pray for our health.  Axel’s and Amelia’s fevers came back last night, though Matthew, Levi, and I are doing much better.  We are so so so grateful for a building full of support, both medical and otherwise.  Soups, babysitting, and fellowship and we are well-loved.

Ready to ski!

Love the mountain view!

Initially, she slept all snuggled in, so people didn’t notice her.

Later, she fell asleep like this…just making us look weird.

The top of the magic carpet tube, how Matthew and Levi got up the hill all day – see that’s them!

Resting on a snow bear