I find it (almost) amusing that I just heard Joyce Meyer talk this morning on her podcast about when you start following the will of God, it will look at times like you're going backwards. The devil does everything he can to steal the Word from our hearts and prevent it from taking root and growing fruit.
Today has been an emotional whirlwind. There was a time this evening that I was able to sit and relax in the pool and just reflect and it almost didn't seem like all that happened was possible in one day.
My day started at 4:45 AM with my son yelling my name from his top bunk (I sleep on the bottom bunk while we're rearranging our rooms and furniture). When I finally made a noise that allowed him to believe I was awake, he said, "I had a dream that I was in the bathroom, but I wasn't.... and I uh.... I accidentally peed in my bed." The next hour I laid in my bed listening to him whine and cry about how hard it was to take the wet sheets off his bed and how he had too many stuffed animals and he just wanted to go back to sleep. "Me too," I murmured. Then the alarm went off and it was time for me to get up and prepare for work.
I thank God all my daycare kids were in good spirits today! We had a mostly good day with everyone getting along well and participating in activities and having a good time! By nap time, though, I was worn out. I'm always a little more tired and grumpy during this particular time of the month, but since my day started so much earlier than I was used to, I was especially tired. I wanted so badly to lay down with the kids and take a nap! I tried to get my grade-schoolers involved in some quiet activities on the floor so I could lay next to them and "rest my eyes." That worked for all of 20 minutes.
I thought, its 100 degrees outside, and the kids have been mostly good today, and I have coupons for free ice cream at Sonic, so lets go on a spur-of-the-moment field trip! Everyone was excited! They all lined up so nicely and were awaiting their turn to get in my van. I turned on the engine to run the A/C while we all buckled in. With in one minute, this van that I've only owned for one week started smoking! A giant cloud of white smoke came from the engine. I immediately turned off the engine and got the toddler out of the van (she was the only one I had had time to buckle in). I explained to the kids that we couldn't go anywhere and herded them back inside. I had just broken their hearts.
Unexpected changes in routine are always difficult for my son (see the earlier post ADHD, ODD, SPD.... WTH?) so he proceeded to throw a two year old tantrum - complete with stomping his feet and screaming and throwing things. What a sight. I stayed as calm as I could and escorted him to his room. Of course, that made him more upset since his room was a train wreck from his earlier accident that never got completely cleaned up. His floor is so full of bedding and stuffed animals he can't even walk in there. I closed the door anyway and told him I would be happy to see him again when he was ready to be kind and calm.
The rest of the kids were in shock. This is the "cool big kid" that everyone looks up to. What was he doing behaving like a wild animal? They also were all pouting because I got their hopes up with the excitement of ice cream and a field trip to Sonic playground then crushed them like little bugs. I could feel their disappointment - the air was so heavy.
I called the dealer who sold me this van and told them what had happened. Even though there is a big sign posted in their lobby that says something to the effect of "No rentals provided, once you buy it, its your problem", they said they would send a tow truck out right away and give me keys to a loaner vehicle while they figured out the problem with the van I just purchased - which they did. Because I had daycare kids until their closing time at the dealership, they just sent the keys with the tow truck driver and I had to find a ride to the dealership to pick up the loaner vehicle.
Thank God for good friends who live near by. Once I got to the dealership and discovered this old beast of a van that doesn't even look safe to drive was waiting for me, I jumped in and rushed out to the community center on the north side of town - a 25 minute drive - for my son's soccer practice..... only to find no one there! I don't know if there was a heat advisory or something else, but some how I missed the memo that there was no practice and I didn't have the coach's phone number with me. I had my son's friend with us as well, because we planned on swimming after his practice. We could have saved so much time and energy and stress going to a pool closer to home had we known there was no soccer practice. So we went to grab dinner then ended up at the pool until closing time.
I'm so thankful for the opportunity to get some quiet alone time while the kids played together in the water. They had a great time, and I was able to relax, pray, and reflect. Stupid devil, you can't keep me down!
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