Last and First

Today is a last day and a first day for me...for us.
Tomorrow is Will's 3rd birthday.  Today is our last day to have a two year old...ever.
Today is our first day of co-op...ever.
Today is also the first official day of 4th grade for Jack and official first day of Kindergarten for Andrew!  See?

Emotions are mixed over here if you know what I mean.

I'm a believer in the statement, "It's not about me."

But this is, this time.  This is about me.  However...this could be about you too.  If you have ever had a "freshman" day at school-work-life in general, where everything you did, and even circumstances beyond your control (which freaks most of us out that something could be out of our control----freaky)...and because you were having this kind of day there seemed to flash to others in neon arrows suspended in space around you this embarrassing announcement:

 HEY! JUST INCASE YOU DIDN'T ALREADY NOTICE ME 

AND MY SHORTCOMINGS...

I'M NEW HERE - I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING - 

AND BONUS, WHAT I AM DOING JUST ISN'T GOING MY WAY TODAY!  

LOOK AT ME!

Not the nice kind of "look at me I just got a great hair cut and I am working it out" look at me....the bad kind of look at me.  The kind of "look at me" that makes your complexion change color, your stomach become an Olympic gymnast, and your psyche want to crawl into the fetal position and rock back and forth.

In a nutshell, that's how I felt this morning.  If you have ever felt like that to one degree or another, then this could be about you, and you, therefore, have kept me from hogging the spotlight.  Come on and stand by me so they can gawk at us together.

Let me say that technically, I have had worse days.  It's just that today was the first day of co-op/school.  Why in all of God's creation do these days happen on important days?  The world will never know.


So, huge build up right?  Wanna know what happened?  Still slightly interested?

The power went out.  Yep. That's it.

Did you ever play with dominoes when you were a kid?  Well, we are about to now:

Because the power went out the alarm clocks didn't go off.

Because the alarm clocks didn't go off, the mommy didn't get up on time.

Because the mommy didn't get up on time, the kids woke before the mommy.

Because the kids woke before the mommy, the cart got before the horse.

Because the cart got ahead of the horse, things had to be fixed, reassembled, repacked, etc.

Because things needed to be fixed the family was late getting out of the house but was gonna be on time by the skin of their teeth.

Because the family was late getting out of the house all of the traffic lights turned red on the way to school.

Because all the traffic lights turned red on the way to school the family was no longer on time by the skin of their teeth.

Because the family wasn't on time by the skin of their teeth, they were late.

Because they were late the mommy got a phone call.

Because the phone call wasn't enough, the mommy was spoken to twice in the mommy room at co-op in front of other mommies about being late...and even had the document shown to her with the co-op policies on it, asked if she needed a copy, was familiar with it, and understood it.

Because of that, the mommy feels like a hobbit. 

(No offense to hobbits, its just my way of expressing how I feel.  Hobbitish, I feel hobbitish.)
*(I would be remiss if I neglected to acknowledge the heroic efforts of the daddy in helping to move the cart behind the horse where it belongs.)
**(I would also just like to say if you have skin on your teeth, please brush them asap. Who came up with that saying???)

Now thump the first domino and watch them all fall down.  

That was the fun part.  

The grown up part was deciding how to feel next.  

Click here to Read- Isaiah 61:1-3

That right there, that's the BEST exchange policy E V E R.

Today I give special attention to verse 3...and gladly exchange my dunce cap of embarrassment for His crown of beauty, my downtrodden spirit for His gladness, my disappointment and despair that this important day didn't go right for His for songs of his praise.  Oh, that I could be that oak...solidly planted, showing off HIS beauty...not my shortcomings.  

I know that you are for me, I know that you are for me, I know that you will never forsake me in my weaknesses.  I know that you have come now, even if to write upon my heart...to remind me, who you are.

P.S. In His goodness, He has restored my soul and my day...my children all napped.  Yes they did.  He is so good...all the time.