Rainy Days

Praise the Lord, we are getting an odd smattering of showers. They just kind of zoom in and zoom out. All blustery one minute and bright and sunshiney the next. If you are local, you know that what I say is true.

My house is a bit like that some days. Recently, we had one of those days where everyone just woke up cranky. Fierce, even. We made it through the morning without any major issues, just a lot of little ones. Don't play in the toilet, leave the trash in the trash can, don't hit your sister/brother, don't hide your PB & J in the couch, don't smear your wet diaper all over the walls. There were a couple of things that are just simply rules. There were a multitude of things that had never been addressed, therefore were not on the rule radar of my grouchy and trying kids (like Sarah Grace helping herself to the left over muffins, only she couldn't get them out of the pan, so she just used her hands to dig in them and leave muffin mess everywhere.)

Finally, nap time arrived. The eye of the storm, if you will.



I have often thought to myself that this is just the way it is for now. This is just one day in a million. When I am thinking like that, I can take it all in stride and pray for wisdom and patience and the day goes well, despite what happens. There are, of course, those days when I feel entrenched in what this season is. I forget that my little ones will soon be so grown that I will wish for these days of little feet and new daily discoveries again.

Yesterday, I went to a friend's house so that she and her crew could follow me and mine to a park for a morning out. She has a six year old daughter, a 2 1/2 year old son, 1 1/2 year old twin girls, and a six week old son. When I pulled in the drive, the kids were all loaded into the vehicle, buckled in, and sitting peacefully. Jen was in the house tossing the last few things into a bag for the morning at the playground, and I was in awe that she had it so together. Then, her oldest daughter told me that she had loaded the kids and fastened them into their car seats. All but the baby, who I helped her with while Jen, (who really does have it together) finished up. I commented to Jen on her awesome helper and her reply was, 'Yeah, she rocks!'

Last night, over dinner, I was sharing about our day with Joshua, and of course, did not forget to mention Jen's wonderful helper. Joshua said that I will probably have one of those in a couple more years time.

He is right. I think about that occasionally, but today, Thomas proved his advancing independence again. He wanted some strawberry yogurt, and I told him it was in the refrigerator in the garage. (thanks to a set of neighbors, we have two fridges!!) He went though the utility area, let himself into the garage, got the yogurt out of the fridge, brought it in and plopped it down. I know this doesn't sound like much, but honestly, when he started doing things that helped to save time and steps for me, he started lending a hand towards my being sane at the end of the day.

You'd think that God had a plan in this whole thing, ya know? The way Thomas and Sarah Grace started sleeping in later just in time for Elizabeth to get here, keeping us awake at all hours of the night. The way my load got heavier, only to be lightened a little bit at the time by Thomas taking on new chores and learning to even anticipate things. He did, after all, promise to never put more on my shoulders than I could bear. He just didn't let me in on the details of how He would make that happen. It is humbling to see how His ways work out.