If all of these things I mentioned above goes according to my plan I am a happy and content mom and at the end of the day I can look back and say I was successful. Here is a little peek at my day this morning:
We all woke up with daddy today at 6:00 am. I would like for the baby to sleep for another hour but when George wakes up she will hear him since they both sleep in the same bed with us. I was happy that we all got up together and the kids will get to see off Sony when he leaves to work by 6:30 am. I tried to put another layer on George since it is very cold downstairs but he didn't want to wear it. I got little upset with him and the next thing you know George is screaming and crying. Well what to do, so I carry George along with Anna and bring them both down to the kitchen, put the baby in the high chair and had George sit at the kitchen table. He kept crying. I made waffles during this time. I had already made the waffle mix last night so it was quick. By this time I am so irritated and upset that George is still crying. Finally I carry him (which I should have done long ago) and consoled him, gave him few hugs and kisses and he was slowly getting better.
After brushing George's teeth, and putting the baby to sleep I was able to do a little bit of homeschooling today which is about Alphabet Fun from the Little Saints Preschool Program. We started with a prayer, read books, sang few songs, did some art work (which he initially didn't want to do). By then the baby woke up and I wanted to take them to the library today for some story time. I got both of them and myself ready, put the baby in the car seat, got my diaper bag ready and I go to get the van keys and its not there. It is 9:15 am and I need to make it to the library by at least 9:45 so that I can get the tickets to join the story time. By this time George is already outside the door. Anna is in the car seat. I looked in the closet, upstairs in the room, kitchen table, my bag, my parents room and I cannot find it. Baby is starting to cry in the car seat. I took the baby from the car seat and kept searching for the key with her. George is getting frustrated and he is outside which worries me. I call my parents who is in Michigan with my sister to check where they put the keys because they are the ones who used the van last time. They don't have the keys with them. By this time believe me I have lost all my patience and I am angry really really ANGRY.
I told George that we cannot go today and he gets upset and wont come inside the house. The baby is so tired by now and she is starting to get fussy. This makes me even more irritated and angry. For once we are early and on time to go to the library and I cannot find the keys. I got George inside and he knows I am upset but he continues to say that he wants to go. It is almost 10:00 am and story time begins at 10:15 am. I gave up my hopes by that time. I know even if I go I wont get tickets. I am forcing myself to pray so that I wont go crazy at my two very needy and irritated kids. At this point I just thought of looking one last time through all the coat pockets in our closet. And guess what I found the keys in my mom's coat pocket which I thought she had taken to Michigan with her at 10:00 am.
We quickly got inside the van and thank God even though we got there right before the story time we got the tickets because not many people showed up today. After the story time George wanted to go visit his friend who lives around the block and I said we will go if they are home but when I called them they had gone outside. Now this is very hard for a 3 year old to understand right. George is so upset that he cant go play with his friend so decided not to come outside the van when we got home. The baby was so tired I did not have time to make him understand or to force him out of the van so I left him in there. I came inside the house with so much frustration and anger and worried about him sitting in the van by himself. Anyways, I quickly gave the baby something to eat and kept going back outside to check upon him. Finally after 10-15 minutes he came inside crying and upset.
It was 11:15 am and I had barely made it through the morning. I look at how my day is going and did it go according to my plan? Was I patient and loving? Did I do everything I wanted to do? Most of the times the answer might be NO. I am angry, frustrated, tired, sad but the question is was I able to submit all this to the Lord and say Jesus it is not my way but yours, it is not my plan, but yours, it is not my will, but your will. When I was driving to the library after I found my keys I was looking back at that 40 minutes of searching for the key. The Lord really wanted to see how patient I was and how much loving and gentle I could be to the kids even at that moment of frustration and anger. How easy it is for us to say that we are so loving and patient when everything goes well, but Lord wants us to be patient and loving and take care of our children and do our motherly duties when we are going through these hard times. This is the time to offer it up to the Lord and say here I am Lord show me your way.
Even though my day was frustrated and tiring and I couldn't do most of the things I wanted to accomplish today I look back at it and thank God for the beautiful things we were able to do today. I was able to feed the children, got time to home school, took them to the story time which was so much fun filled with songs, stories and puppet shows with other children. We got to eat Alphabet soup and Mac and cheese for lunch which George and Anna loved. They were so happy and are sleeping peacefully now which is why I can write this post. The Lord knows that we need the purification for our souls and it is through these little frustrations that we can grow closer to the Lord by offering it up happily to the Lord.
"Nothing, how little
so ever it be, if it is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the
sight of God." (From Thomas Kempis)
Sounds very familiar!
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