All-Inclusive Friday

Well, it's the end of a very long week that went by very fast (if that makes any sense). On a beautiful, sunny fall day, the kids are napping, the house is a mess, and I sit here eating Peanut M & Ms in front of the computer and throwing out random thoughts to whomever is listening in blogland. Yesterday was an especially long day. I had clinical from 7am-1pm, came home for a little while and then got called into work from 5pm-10pm. So, its only natural that today I'm a little tired. But, I'm happy to be home with the kids and thankful that I don't have to rush off anywhere. Wait, I just said I'm happy to be home with the kids...even though I'm tired...even though there are baby cheetos all over the floor, and eternal laundry to do, and a four-year-old that keeps trying to open her squeeky door during naptime and sneak out because she's excited about her new Spiderman Lantern that she got for being such a helpful big sister.

Surprisingly, I didn't lose my patience today when Calah decided that she HAD to stand on my lap as I fed Jacob in his highchair so she could feed him too, dropping oatmeal all over my pants and the floor. Who am I to say she can't practice her mommy skills?

Am I hoping that they all sleep for 3 hours so I can write this blog AND take a nap? Of course, I am not beyond all my selfish tendencies...but today, the restlessness inside is quiet and I am thankful for what God has given me.

_____________________________________________

Today Hannah asked me what color God was. She didn't mean black or white...she meant purple because that was the color of the clouds in her illustrated Bible story book. I told her I wasn't really sure what color He was. And she said she would find out when she went up to Heaven. Then she asked me if we could go to Heaven together. Smile/Tear.

_____________________________________________

What else? Oh yeah...this is kinda funny. So a few weeks ago, I made my morning journey to the drive-thru Dunkin Donuts. I don't do this everyday, but mostly on those mornings that I absolutely NEED to get both good coffee and out of the house. Pulling away from the drive thru, I decided to pull over a little and park in one of the parking spaces because the kids were all demanding their donuts and I was trying to put my money away, etc. The parking space ran parallel, and immediately next to, the exit driveway. After getting everyone situated, I decided to make a call on my cell phone. Forgetting that I was in a parking space and not in the exit driveway itself, I put the car in drive, accelerated quickly and bounded up and over both the concrete parking block and the barrier to the grass parkway on the other side. Shocked at the unexpected jostling, the kids all stared at me wide-eyed. I laughed, threw the car in reverse, and then stopped laughing when I realized that we were COMPLETELY stuck. I put the car in drive and tried to move forward...nothing. Then, I started to panic. Still in my pjs, with all three kids...what was I going to do? Call a tow truck? Jon? The police? What the heck was I going to do with all the kids in a tow truck? So, I locked the car and ran full speed into the Dunkin Donuts, hoping they could help me. Well...making donuts is not really in the same field as removing cars from ditches. They came out and just sort of stared at the car. And then they laughed. A lot.

Lucky for me, all was not lost. As we were trying to decide on a course of action, a Jeep pulled into the parking lot with the words JEEP OFFROAD plastered across the windsheild. This man was just on a quick stop for coffee, but happened to have a jack, a gigantic chain, and some other random stuff used for returning cars to their rightful place on the road. Without hesitation, he attached my car to his car and pulled us out. (I took the kids out of the car, just in case the gas line had been punctured in the crash. Again, paranoid, sorry). After about a million thank-yous, I bought him his coffee and donuts and then both of us were on our way. Coincidence? Maybe, but probably not. God knows I can't talk on my cell phone and drive at the same time. He is very smart.

The funny part is, today I returned to the scene and was surprised to see all the Dunkin Donuts people remembered me...and were all still laughing.

Welcome to my beautiful chaos.