Series of (Un)fortunate Events: Chapter 12: woo PIG sooie

While I am a "die-hard" Razorback fan, the kind of pig that I'm talking about is of the swine variety. 

I landed a wonderful teaching job at a school I love, on a team I love, teaching 7th grade Math that I love.  God provided in BIG ways.  I interviewed at two junior highs in the same district, was offered positions at both, and then was left to choose which position to pursue.  YAY GOD for giving me not one option but two!!!  I made my choice, and all was going well in the year (despite the inevitable small stresses of being a first year teacher), until about the week before Labor Day, which is really only about 3 or 4 weeks into the year down here....

It started as a little cold, which crept into my chest, which then turned into a cough, which then led to a fever, which then turned into a hard time breathing, etc etc.  I was just waiting for the squirts and it would have been Poop-Fest 2009 and reminiscent of Chapter 3:  Rock Bottom in NYC.  But of course, I pushed through because I had had Labor Day weekend to rest, and I thought I would be feeling better.  I only had a 4-day week to make it through since I had Monday off--"I'll be fine I told myself...just push through!!!!!" 

By Wednesday afternoon after Labor Day, I was sitting at my desk at school and knew I had a RAGING fever and was going downhill fast.  Defeated, I drove to an after-hours clinic and sat there pathetically waiting to see a doctor (all the while thinking I was going to have a repeat of my past...I was scared to death I would have to do those stool samples AGAIN!!)

Little did I know, this wasn't anything like what I had gotten in the past, this was H1N1, this new virus that was BOOMING, called "swine flu."  "Cool" was all I could think.  I had really only heard about it on the news and that it was a sweeping epidemic.  I didn't think I--of all people--would get it.  Ha.  I should have learned by this point.  Of course I was going to catch it.  (sense the sarcasm and slight bitterness...I'll admit).

That was a fun phone call to my principal, "Mrs. ____________, just wanted to let you know that I've been diagnosed with swine flu and potentially infected 1,000 students and 100 teachers here at our school.  No big deal. Oh, and by the way I'll be out for the rest of the week so I'll need a sub.  See you Monday."  UGH!!  Not the call a first year teacher who is trying to "prove herself" wants to make.  At this point I was thinking, "can't I just catch a break?"  (End pity party).

But ya know what?  As Christians, we aren't promised an easy, calm, boring life.  We are promised in John 16:33:  "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 

So, I went to the pharmacy and picked up: Tamiflu, an inhaler of Albuterol, cough medicine with codeine, kleenex, and my mom brought chicken noodle soup over.  I hibernated for about 4 days in our apartment and I worried non-stop that I had given this sickness to my niece and nephew (if you remember, H1N1 is really scary in little kids, so we for sure didn't want this to happen!!)

And yes...this virus did kick back up my GI symptoms....

(I guess I should say that at this point, I kept thinking that all of these GI "issues" were episodic and that they would go away at some point...I never saw patterns or connections between any of them.  I was just doing my job and going about my life, and surely they would go away... but no, they would occasionally get in the way; I would push through and maybe they would subside for a little while more).

I hope no one reads this blog and walks away feeling defeated.  The goal of this is for me to tell my story and show how God has provided for me every step of the way.  We have to remember that sometimes we don't find God on the mountaintops, we are sometimes forced to meet him face to face in the valleys....

Faith is choosing to live as though the Bible (Jesus himself) is true regardless of circumstances, emotions, or cultural trends.  

Certainly it would seem that up until this point my circumstances (and often my emotions) were not advantageous or comforting, but God is good. This is a story of redemption.  God is working and moving.  We just may not see the big picture of it all YET (or on this side of heave). 

More to come....

Thanks for reading!!!