Prayers Answered

Last night, Little Girl was very tired, which I chalked up to her very active day. She nearly fell asleep before dinner (at 6:15!) and then, again, at the table. She barely ate, and we tucked her into bed before 8:00. She felt a tiny bit warm, but she usually feels warm-ish. About ten last night, though, she woke up from a nightmare. I ran and hugged her and she felt downright HOT. Hubby looked for a thermometer without success, but we knew she was burning up and gave her some Motrin to bring down the fever. Minutes later, I found the thermometer and found that she had a temperature of about 102.2 F. Neither of my children has ever run a fever so high before, but I knew that something has been going around because my niece was sick last week.

I carried Little Girl downstairs and called my mother (not knowing whether or not my sister was working at the hospital that night). Mom told me that my niece ran a fever around 103 for five days! She's fine now, though she's still coughing from whatever it was. Little Girl did not have any cough, but I still did not like the fever. I was already praying and asking for help. For some reason I felt prompted to pray to St. Gertrude, who is partoness for those who have recently died. I did, briefly, but mostly directed my prayers towards God for the moment.

When Little Girl fell back asleep, fever down for the moment, I carried her back to bed. Hubby and I watched the end of the DVD we'd been watching, then switched over to our DVR to watch the football game (it was still in progress, but we started the recording over to see the beginning). I was still fretting a little, and suddenly decided that I'd look up who the patron saint of fevers was! Well, there are a lot, but one did turn out to be St. Gertrude. (Thank you, guardian angel!) But the one that caught my eye last night was Saint Peter! He is, by far, my favorite saint. I decided that, in addition to praying directly to God, I'd also ask Saint Peter to pray for Little Girl. I also asked my guardian angel to help keep watch over her, begging my angel to wake me if she needed me. At 2:00 a.m., I woke suddenly and went upstairs immediately. I took Little Girl's temperature (ear thermometers are great, by the way) and found that it remained around 100.3 or so. I felt better about her situation at that point and was finally able to sleep soundly the rest of the night. (Incidentally, she was awake, though groggy, when I went up there. Not crying, but awake enough to assist me in taking her temperature in the dark.)

This morning, at about 6:45, Little Girl came bounding onto the bed with the thermometer and said, "Mommy, take my temperature, please!" When I did, she came up at about 100, give or take a couple of tenths. And there she has remained all day.

Thank you, Saint Peter, for your intercessions on my behalf last night. And thank You, Lord, for helping her to feel better.

Side notes: Little Girl agreed last night that she would try very hard to offer up her suffering for the souls of Purgatory and for the Church. I explained that all she needed to do was say that she offered it up, and God would accept that from her. It was a wonderful gift from her, and I was so proud of her decision to try that.

Also, this morning, she said the sweetest thing to me. "Mommy, I hope you don't get that fever from me because you were snuggling me last night." Even when she isn't feeling well, she still thinks of others!

What a blessing my children have been to me! Thank You, dear Lord, for Your precious gifts!