come on
really? are you kidding me? remember that saying, “be careful what you ask the Lord for. He just might give it to you?” remember me wanting to have real joy today? well, to help me along, He allowed the following.
phone-ring ring
me-answering the phone-hello
person on other end of the phone-ah yes, mrs. smith? hi, this is the nurse at xyz school. amelia’s teacher just brought her down to the office. we think she has pinkeye. you’ll need to come get her.
me-oh. i just sat my boys down to eat lunch, i’ll be there in a few minutes.
this is at 11:45. orville and wilbur need to finish eating, brush their teeth, go potty and leave by 12:25 so orville can be at school on time. and i am supposed to go to the grocery store, finish four loads of laundry, bake 4 dozen cookies, prepare dinner for the in-laws, and take amelia to the doctor?
really? really? Lord, really? yeah, really.
i called my mother-in-law.
me-hi. amelia’s school called. they think she has pinkeye.
MIL-oh no.
me-do i need to take her to the dr. for this?
MIL-probably not. they might be able to just call in a prescription for you.
me-are you still willing to come over tonight?
MIL-yes.
me-i don’t think i can do this.
MIL-yes, you can. call the doctor.
me-thank you.
got off the phone. called the doctor. it’s 12:05 and they are closed for lunch from 12-1. perfect!
got the boys ready for school. picked amelia up from school. took orville to school. went to the grocery store. decided a campbell’s supper bakes meal would do. yes, even for the in-laws. left the grocery store. called the doctor. they probably can call in a prescription and if not, they’ll let me know.
come home. call my mother-in-law. tell her about the doctor. tell her about my blog from this morning. tell her about the joy. she laughs. out loud. and it makes me thankful that i have her.
so here i sit, at the computer blogging. the dryer is almost finished, only two loads to go after that. i don’t need to bake 4 dozen cookies because i can’t go to the cookie exchange. i’m eating leftover pizza. amelia and wilbur are playing with legos. i would like to start pulling out my hair. but, God just tugged at my heart. “who’d be caring for amelia if you weren’t? do you not see the joy in that?”
thank you Lord.
oh, and what’s next?
Filed under children, family, Jesus, parenting | Comments (2)back to normal?
well, since there’s no such thing, i guess not. will have wilbur home from school today. he’s fine this morning, but still had a fever last night. oh, that darn 24 hour rule! orville will go, but he has a stuffy nose. poor little guy. it’s so hard when they are so little. he can blow, but not well on his own. wilbur has the stuffy nose too, and a bad cough. and amelia is stuffy as well. and she woke up with red eyes. she said she was rubbing them a lot in her bed. and that they had some ‘crunchies’ on them, but daddy helped her and wiped them off. i decided before we left for school that she needed drops. big drama! but the eyes looked much better after the drama ended. and mommy was able to gently explain the importance of obeying(keeping your eyes open for drops), even when we don’t want to obey. what do i find myself saying all the time?? ahhh, the joy of parenting.
the joy of laundry, four loads. the joy of vacuuming, the upstairs only, because i did the downstairs yesterday. the joy of dusting, haven’t done that in awhile. the joy of grocery shopping, at least it’s only with one kid while the other two are in school. the joy of baking 4 dozen cookies for the cookie exchange at mother’s club at church tomorrow. or should i find joy in buying 4 dozen cookies?? the joy of preparing dinner for the in-laws, which i really am happy to do. especially because they are watching the kids so josh and i can go to amelia’s school conference. and they are watching them earlier than we need them to so josh and i can go out to dinner together before the conference. but, my mother-in-law has become a gourmet cook in her all-the-children-out-of-the-home-days, so my all-the-children-in-the-home-days produce inferior meals compared to hers. and please know, this is all coming from my brain and my insecurities. she’s never said anything bad about my cooking. it’s just that i know chicken and noodles from the oven doesn’t sound as cool as something that has been sautéed or poached.
wow, i am really not feeling the joy today. the sarcastic kind, yes. but not real joy. to my Lord i go.
“bring joy to your servant, for to You, O Lord, i lift up my soul.” psalm 86:4
“the Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and i am helped. my heart leaps for joy and i will give thanks to Him in song.” psalm 28:7
Filed under children, family, Jesus, marriage, parenting | Comment (1)