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The little daily calendar on my desk is calling my name.. "In my distress I screamed to the Lord for His help, and He heard me from Heaven." Psalm 18:6
Sometimes I totally feel like I'm screaming for help! : ) We had a friend airflighted to Little Rock on Tuesday. She is five and a half weeks pregnant, and her uterine lining was thinning, and she was starting to contract. We've been praying for her (even before we knew what to pray!), but she's okay. Somehow, they surgically strengthened it (um, wow?), and she'll be on bedrest, but they are both okay. Prayers answered.
I see more now than ever that me making it through the pregnancies I did was a miracle. I remember preeclampsia with Clay, the horrible swelling, then the awful magnesium to relax my muscles, my endless contractions then super-fast birth with Mary Claire that caused so much bruising and her ruptured blood vessels in her eyes (probably all contributing to diabetes!), and Ethan's missed heart beat at 10 weeks that required an ultrasound to confirm and then a c-section...am I thankful enough that when I cried out to God, that He heard me from Heaven, and brought us through the darkness? They are well and healthy, and funny and so full of life! I know not all my kiddies made it, but these three did, and I'm grateful.
* * * * *
My van is, however, not quite so thankful for my little darlings. Yesterday my littlest kiddies were having dinner in the van on the way to Clay's baseball game, and when I had to slow down to turn (and the cars in front of me slammed on their brakes for a person in the turning lane)...and the plates (and pasta, nuts, and yogurt) (are you getting the idea?) hit the floor. Ick. I had to clean nuts from under my feet (yes, they rolled up front!) and then clean the yogurt off the floor mats (for the seventeenth time I'm super thankful for those all-weather mats over my carpet!) (except for two places where the yogurt got on the carpet. God help me this summer in the heat!) (and the heated up dairy..)
Today my littlest kiddie wanted a big water bottle, he was so thirsty after school. We had barely turned out of the parking lot, and he dropped the brand new bottle...on the floor. I pulled over as quickly as I could to try to sop it up, but it was soaking in already, and I only had napkins-gross. The mats helped a little, but the water rolled off the edges and soaked the carpet. Umm..thank goodness it was water?
I'm trying super-hard to find the silver lining in my messy life! I'm thankful for my new vacuum that works (and sucks, hahaha!), and for Curious George videos for Ethan during Mary Claire's dance class, and for pink flower flats when I bust my toenail (and half of it comes off..in the shower!) (and I lose at least a month of sandal-time, boohoo), and for a straightened bracket today after my teeth obeyed my crooked bracket..knowing my tight, sore teeth will one day be all straight...and for ibuprofen to make my world bearable. Still blessed in the middle of my mess. He heard me crying out today, and the best? ..He hears me. : )
What are you thankful for today?
Tough. Day.
Ethan had an appointment to get an (invisible, seriously. Only the little beeping laser device can detect it) cavity filled. It went well until the shots/"magic balloons". He got calmed down, they they wanted to put on the "ring" and "raincoat" to protect the other teeth, and he had the full-on meltdown/get-me-the-heck-outta-here cry! They gave me some prescription fluoride (1.1%-5x the normal amount) toothpaste, and told me I was "good" (code: take your crying child out!). They'll check it again at his next visit, to see if it's stronger, or if it still needs to be filled. It just has bacteria in it. : ( He was seriously sad that he didn't get to buy a car on his way out with his points. Ha! He didn't earn any since he didn't get the "cavity bugs out!"! That just made him cry louder.
So then I dealt with the crying, wailing, and knashing of teeth (literally) for the next hour and a half, as he wanted the balloons out of his mouth! Ahh..I couldn't say much, I didn't want to ruin it for next time we have to go for a cleaning (or filling!).
At home, I gave him juice, a yogurt drink, and he kept screaming for an apple (yes, he'd bite his cheek and all!), so we agreed on macaroni & cheese. I was in the pantry, kinda shoved in between the door and the shelves (because the laundry was packed so tightly-can't explain-at least they were clean), and I was starting to melt down after all the crying, and I began to D-I-G for macaroni! I swear, I bought a five-pack about two weeks ago, and couldn't possible be all gone. Well, the digging caused an earthquake, and down came a big, new bottle of low-sodium soy sauce. All over the floor, my adorable Company C rug, my dryer, cabinets, door, clean hanging clothes, box of clothes for Salvation Army, root veggies in the pantry, etc. Yes, all brownish liquid and busted glass. I wanted to laugh and scream at the same time. First I ran upstairs to get the "old" towels to sop it all up with, then I began to pray, seriously pray. I could still hear Ethan's relentless screaming about the balloons in his mouth, the apple he wanted "Now!", and the macaroni. I thought if I didn't have some divine intervention, it was not going to end well.
I totally forgot he had gymnastics, as I was soaking up brown stuff with my knees and avoiding glass. I had to alternate sopping up with vacuuming the glass, but didn't want to suck up liquid into the vacuum-a very complicated job (will note on future job resumes). I finally got it cleaned up, rewashed four loads of splashed laundry, vacuumed and mopped again, then made him some microwave macaroni (thank goodness for that instant garbage Ches buys!) I had myself some real Coke, and some caramel pecan bread pudding for lunch-I'd really worked myself into negative calories! : )
The day went incredibly better after that (could it have gotten worse?), and I got some cups made:
They are gifts for teachers that I made for a parent at our school. She pretty much knew what she wanted on each one, and they turned out cute! : ) I hope the teachers like them. It's always hard to decide on fonts, colors, fabrics, what to write, etc. I'm making lots of decisions, but they are fun!
Then dinner, dance, and a quick trip to Hobby Lobby-I always have crafty stuff spinning in my head! I'm getting ready to make the little baggies for girl scout patches for the girls, and I'm working on a wreath for a friend, and Mary Claire wanted to look at dance ornaments (for her teachers!). We could live there!
I watched the Barbara Walters interviews this evening, and I will remember Oprah quoting Bill Withers, "Use Me, till I'm all used up." I already pray that God will use me, and show me who to help, but maybe I should pray more to be used. I think that's what is happening-my family is getting use out of me. : ) I really wouldn't have it any other way.
Disney got put on hold for a day... We went to Seaworld today! Our entire purpose was to let Ethan see the dolphins since he does such a great (noise) impression. But, he kicked and balked-and was having NO dolphin show. We did get to see the baby dolphins, so maybe that was enough.
And did I mention it was HoT? I mean sweat dripping down my back-and farther. Ick. So gross, and it just made everyone irritable. Mary Claire couldn't wait to see Shamu, so that's all we heard about, Clay was hot and wanted to tell us where to go constantly, and Ethan was pretty good. He fell asleep right before the Shamu show and slept for almost two hours! Ches watched him in the (leaned back) stroller before and during the show, then I watched him (and almost fell asleep) while he took the kids to play in Shamu Land (or some cutesy equivalent). We couldn't ride the big roller coasters because the kids had to be at least 54 inches. Whatever. There was nothing big and cool for them to ride! I mean, I'm not ThAT much taller than that! So, it was totally not worth $280 for our five hours of heatstroke and some dolphin/killer whale action. Ugh. And tomorrow they'd like to go to Universal Studios!! What happened to our Disney trip?? I'm getting side-railed! But then, I'd LOVE to see La Nouba (Cirque de Soleil) one night. I wanted to go last year, but it just didn't happen. This year it'd be tough with Ethan. He wouldn't watch, so it have to be without him or not at all (pretty likely at this point!).
So, today no nose tic-tacs, but a little blowing on the (hotel room) vacuum attachment (full mouth)-and only God knows where it's been. Really.
And not as much stress, and we're up one pizza as Flippers brought the wrong order. But the garlic bread they sent on accident was absolutely wonderful and worth the trouble!!
Maybe Disney tomorrow-it's Mary Claire's bday (Big 7!), and she has chosen Animal Kingdom. Call me Surprised! : O I'll post you some pix of our birthday celebration. : )
ps-follows are some pix from today-less exciting, but our day, nonetheless. : )
