Illness and parental stress

In the past few months Jason has been ill on and off. Their are days he literally can not get out of bed (way above and beyond the normal teen stuff.) His doctor suspected Epstein Barr. Blood work results we got back this week confirmed this.
Basically this is viral and not responsive to antibiotics. The best things to do are let him rest and give him good nutrition.
I also have him on fish oil, a food grade multivitamin, vitamin d, and a supplement for infection daily.
From my research this takes a long time to recover from and the virus never fully leaves your body.

I am not happy that my son is sick, and I hate when he is not feeling well. But I have to be honest, sometimes I just get exhausted parenting a special needs child with all the doctors appointments, therapies, precautions, preplanning, stressful days, and more. And now on top of all of that he is sick as well.

Especially as a single parent, if I have to go to work and he is in a mood or not feeling well I am always unsure as what to do. Cancel work or wherever I have to go, make him go anyway, or leave him home alone. None of these options are great. Especially since if I do not work, I do not get paid.

If I have to cancel work or wherever I have to go it shows irresponsibility on my part and I may even lose that job. If I make him go anyway he may get further stressed or take longer to recover if he is ill that day. Leaving him home is something I do not like to do. He doesn't really like it either. Sometimes he gets very overwhelmed and nervous and so being home alone adds to that. (Although occasionally he enjoys being home alone, for the quiet.)

So all this makes me a bit insensitive to my children's illnesses and challenges. For example if they are not feeling well, I get upset that they can't do their chores. I know, terrible. But when what they are dealing with (illness, stress, etc.) happens so often (almost daily) it is frustrating to me.

Please pray for us!!!

I need prayer to have more empathy for them. I also need strength to handle all these challenges and issues. I also need wisdom for what to do when I am in the midst of a child's illness, or episode, or outburst.
Jason needs prayer with this new diagnosis of Epstein Barr, among his other challenges.
Joshua needs prayer for his challenges as well.

Thanks.

-Becky

Single Parenting

I feel like it is insensitive to me when parents with a spouse away say they feel like they are a single parent. They may feel overwhelmed and stressed, but they actually are not a single parent. They will have other spouse home usually pretty soon. Even a spouse away in the military, although I am sure with it's own unique challenges, is not the same as actually being a single parent every single day.

Being an actual single parent I have to:

be pray warriors for my boys
love my boys enough for two parents (which is impossible)
be a referee between boys fights
make sure my boys are getting an education
make sure they understand their changing male bodies (but I am a girl)
make sure my boys will grow into Godly men (again, I am a girl)
schedule, remember, and actually show up to doctor's appointments (with special needs their are many of these, at least 4 a month in addition to regular doctor's, dentists, etc.)
wash the laundry, dry the laundry, fold the laundry, put all the laundry away
clean the house
meal plan
food shop, carry in groceries, put all groceries away
cook all meals
clean up after each and every meal
set boundaries and enforce them
encourage physical play
show interest in the boy things they do that I am clueless about (i.e. video games)
do all yard work
do all home repairs
create family budget, follow family budget
earn all income to sustain family budget
deal with stuff that comes up that is not in budget
handle all the sick days (praise God we have not had too many of these)
handle all the non compliant days (we do have these about 5x's a week)

You get the picture. I do all of this without another parent each and every day.

Of course God sustains and blesses us daily. Without Him I could not handle any of this. But it would be nice to have a loving spouse to carry some of this burden as well. It would especially be nice to have someone to share the love I have for these boys with. It also breaks my heart that my boys don't have a loving father in their lives either.


Encoraging their need for physical play I took them to bay on Sunday and let them climb the sand dunes (they are about the be reconstructed. I know you shouldn't be on sand dunes, but they will be overhauled over next two months.) They didn't want to leave even after an hour. I was so ready for my Sunday nap (lol.)

-Becky