"Mama"ssage My Feet

For my birthday, my in-laws gave this three-time mama a gift certificate for her first professional hour-long massage. That was in January. A week ago, I made my appointment, but despite all my planning, my Friday was a regular circus act, and I thought I'd have to cancel. Yes, my circus is unique and I'm not at all sure if people would pay to watch this, but at least it's not boring:

• Jumping 25 times through the baby gate to the nursery without waking up Emerson & Wyatt--Even bleary-eyed and under the effects of a sleeping pill (I stupidly thought I would get some sleep--duh!), I performed this feat ever so gracefully all Thursday night when Amelia's ear infection kept her from sleeping more than 15 minutes at a time.

• Seeing with my X-Ray vision--I caught a cheating student and then had to schedule her a proctored re-take. Yes, I can tell one student's writing from another's--it's a gift and a curse.

• Juggling--I juggled being on the phone with the doctor (again) because Amelia woke up with a pink penicillin rash; finalizing three courses' grades that were due by 5 pm; and troubleshooting for a student testing at the 11th hour when the online testing interface malfunctioned...all while "helping" my parents take care of the kids. And I didn't drop anything. Wow.

• Using my ESP--I must admit that this act still needs work. UPS Freight had me stay home from 12- 5 Thursday waiting for them to deliver the washer. My hubby called at 4:30 only to discover it didn't make it on the truck (hmmm--they knew this yet didn't bother to tell us?). They then promise to deliver it today, but when it didn't come from 12-2, I blew them off to go have my massage, and guess what? They didn't come today either! So, I guess my ESP works 50% of the time.
  

After all my circus acts, I did get my massage. When I asked the masseuse if I were holding in a lot of stress, she said no. Know why? Prayer helps! I confess that I'm not good about sitting daily in my quiet prayer closet, but I am consistent about sending sentence prayers heavenward throughout the day (and night). After this week, to not be retaining much stress means prayer is obviously a stress reliever.

The most interesting thing was that the masseuse said I had the most tension in my feet. This is SUCH a God thing! One of the first things my hubby says he fell in love with was my feet. As such, after we married, he started a tradition of rubbing my feet most nights. Do you see? My heavenly Father knew that I would hold my tension in my feet, so He sent me a spouse who would want to lovingly rub those feet. Isn't that just the neatest?

Sweatin' the Small Stuff

After two days of antibiotics, Amelia still awoke today with 103.4 fever. She’s getting worse, not better. So, by 8:00, I had already started the process to get her more medicine for the pain. Honestly, with the problems I’ve had this week getting medicine, you’d think my child had some rare disease only seen in wild monkeys in the Amazon instead of a run-of-the-mill ear infection!

My doctor called in medicine, but two phone calls to Wal-mart later, I learn that this particular medicine isn’t made anymore (???), so they had to call him back. No. They don’t call back. They informed me everything is via fax. I’ve worked in an office before, so I know how faxes get left waiting until some unsuspecting person needs to send a fax and finds a lot of incoming faxes in her way. In a way, faxes are like the “To Do” list on my kitchen counter—everybody makes sure to walk as far around that part of the counter as possible because if you catch a glimpse of what’s written down, you might feel guilty enough to do something on it.

So much for living in the fast communication age! I call my doctor back—nurse is out to lunch and won’t be back for another half hour. No, nobody else can help. 45 minutes later, I call back Wal-mart again, but this time, it’s ready! Smoke signals…pony express…morse code—any of these could have been faster! I immediately abandon my three kids at my parents’ house and drive the 7 minutes to Wal-mart where I wait (again) for them to run the new insurance cards. At 1:58, I exit the store.

Do you know what that means? I spent SIX hours just trying to get ear drops! How’s that for lack of progress today! I get home at 2:30, feed everybody, and put them all down for naps. I’m exhausted. And then it hits me. Why didn’t I ask God for help? When Amelia woke up, my first instinct was to call Doug and ask him to pray for her. God as Great Physician, no problem. But then I spent the next six hours being frustrated as I played phone tag, and not once did I ask God to help speed it along.

How is it that I can give God the BIG problems like infertility and Doug’s career being taken away more easily than I give Him the day-to-day minutia of my life? It makes no sense! I know in my heart that God cares about every aspect of my life. Now, I’ve just got to work harder getting that head knowledge to my heart.

I imagine God’s paternal relationship with me is much like my relationship with my 2-year-old; I can just picture God dropping his forehead into His hands as He says, “What did daddy tell you to do when you needed help? Now why didn’t you listen?” And as I drop my head in shame, He draws me close into His lap, kisses my tears, and tells me He loves me and that I’ll do better next time. Then, with a gentle pat on my back, He puts me down and tells me to “Go on” to face my next challenge.

It's a Small World

I have recently been reminded that although the world may be vast, it's also quite small. A couple weeks ago, two sister Christian bloggers found me, and they're from my area, so that's quite special. Both have been an inspiration for me (and a help as I'm trying to learn the ropes of blogging). Ginger of "Here's My Cup Lord" is celebrating her one year blogaversary. Click on her button at the bottom of this post to read her inspiring Bible commentary and try some of her yummy recipes! You'll be blessed...and a few pounds heavier if you try them all. I've also started a Blogroll (yes--I've learned a new word!) to the right of my page of other Christian sites I find inspiring.

The second thing I have been reminded of today is that my problems are small in comparison with others' problems. To prove this, my sister by marriage sent me a great laugh in the form of another mother's potty story entitled "Embarrassing Mommy Moment." It makes my experiences with Wyatt seem small in comparison. Wyatt's newest potty quirk is peeing on ant nests (an awful new habit I'm trying to break).

A Godly Response in All I Do

It's been a really hard day where I've had to just "sigh" repeatedly, cry a little, and pray a lot. Why? Because God requires me to glorify Him in everything I do and say, and honestly, that's oh so H-A-R-D many times a day.

Amelia and Emerson had their 6 month appointments today. Emerson is now 19 lbs 7.5 oz and Amelia is 15 lbs 10 oz. We saw OUR pediatrician; he apologized for the other doctor's actions, noticed Amelia's new tooth (it fully popped through the gum this morning), said she's getting a second one, and also said she has an ear infection probably due to the swelling. And as if she understood him, she now has a full-fledged fever to go along with that diagnosis.

And the day just went downhill after that. I've had to guard my tongue when what the human part of me wanted to do was just yell at someone. An hour waiting in Wal-mart for Amelia's prescription saw me leaving with only one medication. I was irritated but was able to be kind to the woman working the register. (Poor hubby then spent an hour trying to pick up the other meds and still only got one because he paid cash for it--they were planning to "wait list" it for TWO DAYS while insurance determined whether it would cover it or not--Hello! Sick child!? Needs meds now!!)

Later, UPS Freight called to schedule delivery of my new, big washer (yippee!). But then, the woman said they wouldn't take it down my driveway because it was gravel. Huh? So now I need to pour a concrete driveway by Thursday, too? Otherwise, you'll leave it at the curb? Do you realize I live in the country, not a city or subdivision, and everybody out here has gravel driveways...and I paid for delivery to my house, not to my mailbox? What? No, I don't own a truck. I have 6 month old twins and a minivan! At this point, I was about to bite my tongue off, so I did the only thing I knew to do--I gave her Doug's cell number. My knight in shining armor rides again.

I thought that was it. Then, I start getting emails and phone calls letting me know that Tommy and Eric have been disbarred. What response do people expect from me--jubilation? A "Yay, Justice-Has-Been-Served Party"? Absolutely Not! It doesn't matter if they treated Doug wrongly. I'm not saying God isn't punishing them for hurting one of His children. But I'm not celebrating. Someone else's judgment isn't funny. It's a reminder that we need to repent while we have the chance. We all deserve God's judgment. I am intensely sad as I think about the impact this will have on their wives and children. I should know how devastating disbarment is to a family, and I wish that on no one, not even my worst enemy.

Day is done, right? Wrong. Almost 8:30 pm, and a process server comes by to serve Doug with papers from Mississippi. Now, he is going to have to fight for his law license in that state as well. I break down and cry at this point. What does God want from me? From us? What am I not giving Him that He wants from me? I know I'm in the center of where He wants me to be. I feel that intensely in my soul. I may have good days and bad days like most people, but I'm sold out to Jesus, and He makes me complete. So, what's up with this? Must we be like Job and have everything taken away? Oh Father, please have mercy.

And on the 7th Day...

God rested. So, maybe that's what Wyatt is doing, too. We had six glorious days last week with only one potty accident. And then today has been a complete mess. I just knew it was going to be "one of those days" when I went to pick up Wyatt after morning worship only to find him marching around the playroom with no shoes and no shorts. He was too young to be mortified. His mother was not. Apparently, he had gone to the potty, but he hit his pants instead of the potty. And then he had an accident afterwards....and again while watching Veggie Tales this afternoon....and again at church tonight. Sigh.

I thought we'd made such progress (especially considering how proud of himself he is when he potties properly), but I guess we still have more work to do on that front. Yep, that deserves another sigh. We'll start over again tomorrow.

On a happy note, yesterday and today, Amelia has been up on all fours, rocking back and forth. It's just a matter of time before she learns to go forward instead of backwards. I'm pleased, but oh will that be an adjustment for Wyatt! Maybe if Emerson sees her moving, it'll encourage him to suck it up, stop fussing, and work on crawling, himself!

The Good, The Bad, The Amusing

The Good: My children got to experience their first crawfish boil! Sure, two of them mercifully slept through most of it, but Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed himself. He petted the crawfish and then ate his weight in crawfish, shrimp, corn, and brownies. It was a great way to celebrate my sister-in-law's pending graduation (she has one more final!). 42 pounds of mud bugs gave their lives for a good cause.

The Bad: At the crawfish boil, I was sitting with my back turned to Wyatt, but I guess my mommy-radar never turns off. Even though I am not even listening to Wyatt's constant chatter, I still somehow manage to tune in enough when he speaks words I shouldn't hear, such as "That's a stinging worm." I turn, and sure enough, there was a huge, black, stinging caterpillar on his shorts. I jump up and scream, "Wyatt! Don't touch it!" I continue to yell this phrase, as if repetition and volume are the 2 components to keeping him safe. Granddaddy swooped in for a save, at which point Wyatt burst into tears. Turns out, he had already "petted" the stinging caterpillar. The swelling was down by tonight, so all is well.

The Amusing: My father-in-law has one of those super duper lawnmowers that can turn on a dime and goes faster than I can run. My husband loves it. I do not. He goes too fast (because he can), ultimately hitting things in his path. Last year alone, he killed a small bush, dented 2 of the posts on Wyatt's swing set, chopped a hole in my watering hose, and pureed a couple toys left in his path. And, since I am female and can't help myself sometimes, my husband has had several warnings about his actions on this expensive toy. Today, though, was the coup de gras. He hit and broke a water line where it comes out of the ground for the faucet I use to water plants. Yep--broke it. Water everywhere. Angry? Oh no. I think this is hysterical. So, instead of finishing the mowing, he had to turn off the water to the entire house, dig up the pipe, go to the store to get the pieces, and reassemble it. Lesson learned? I doubt it.

Return to Eden

My dad enjoys reading Chuck Missler online at Koinonia House, and recently, Missler posted a news item that is SO incredible, I have to share. This article "Straw-Eating Lions and Vegetarian Cats" is about a cat named Dante and a lionness named Little Tyke, neither of whom eat meat. Apparently, cats aren't supposed to be able to live without meat in their diet; yet, this cat is thriving. The same is true for the lion. As the article states, these two creatures "are not freaks of nature; they are reminders of how nature was meant to be," a return to the way animals were in the Garden of Eden. I've grown up knowing about Isaiah 11:6-7: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." But to see this part of God's Word become reality in my lifetime is just awesome!