Friday Five

Alternate Title: Finding the Beauty in a Rough-Patch Week
Subtitle: A Lot of Boring and No Pictures

1. So...my Friday morning began with a tiny face smooshed into mine, whining and begging (with all the passion a three year old can muster...which is a lot) for candy. Candy. I was dead asleep and my son chose to woke me begging for candy. Yes, candy. Is it possible to be completely annoyed by your own child within the first seconds upon waking? And the added insult to injury? Every other morning this week was a battle to get him to wake up at all. He still had school and had to be out the door around 8. Meltdowns ensued because I took his shirt off or put a shoe on or what have you. The one morning we could all sleep in with no alarms set...and he was up before the sun begging for candy. Candy. Can't say I wasn't a little tempted to just throw something candylicious in the child's face and go back to sleep. It's moments like these that I'm reassured that I do, in fact, have traces of unselfish parenting in my veins.

2. Potty training- I have a completely separate post in the works about all things potty and poopy and pee. Get excited. It's gonna be a thriller. But in the meantime, I will just say that it's pretty much consuming my life right now, as I fully expected it would. In fact, this is why I have put it off for so long, despite many "encouragements" from well-meaning others. Like I said, I have much more to say on the topic because I have learned oh, so very much in the whole process so far, but I just want to note that I'm grateful for how well it's been going so far. It really has been such a positive experience for us all and I definitely attribute our success so far to waiting until we were all ready.

And here's a spoiler alert/question: How do you handle potty-training when you're right in the thick of it and it's going SO WELL and then...BAM!...diarrhea? Cuz after the candy-begging incident, this has been what my day looks like. Awesome.

3.I had one of those days on Tuesday where Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day crosses Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Nothing earth-shattering in the slightest, but annoying nonetheless. First, it was all rainy and stormy and gloomy that morning. My son had a typical morning meltdown because I tried to put clothes on him and I was feeling rather exhausted, both physically and parentally. I was able to have some alone time and get my heart right. Even had a few great conversations where I could tell the Lord was bringing some sweetness into some lives. But when I tried to respond to one of the texts I got in the middle of one of these conversations, my phone froze up and went black. It refused to turn back on. Not the end of the world, for sure but definitely inconvenient and annoying.
Later on, the sun had come back out and I was getting ready to go pick Josiah up from school. Because the AC in the Beast (our beloved, giant Navigator) works a bit better when it's been shaded from the fierce sun, I went out to put the sun shade in it and crack the windows a bit (tip #1 for surviving Texas summer heat in a hot car). I went back in to finish getting dressed and wait for my sister who was coming over to come with me to get Josiah from school. I wasn't even sure if she was still coming because my phone was not working at all. But she eventually arrived and we got in the car to leave and it wouldn't start. I didn't mess with it much because she was willing to drive. THANK THE LORD that she was there. It was actually pretty random and out of the ordinary that she "just happened" to be there. Matt was gone for the day and I had no way to get in touch with him. If she hadn't been there, my darling son would have been left up at his school til who knows when.
While we were out getting him and doing some Target shopping, Matt texted Allison to see when we were coming home. He noticed that the windows on the Beast were cracked and it was starting to rain again. A little rain never hurt anyone, but we never did get the car to start back up and it poured again that night and well into the next morning. Such a nasty mess. I think there were a few other unfortunate occurrences, but I've forgotten about them by now.
Just one of those days.

4. That last one was long enough to count for two, right?

5. Hmmm...anything positive to share? Memorial Day was a good one. We'd had zero plans for the day. There's something about those "holidays" that are intended to be more somber and reflective that it just feels irreverent to have a big ol' party and celebrate. This is just a personal opinion, although I'm sure there are plenty others who hold the same opinion. I'm genuinely not trying to be critical or judgmental of those who choose to take the day off they've been given and have a blast with their friends and families. By all means...you know? But I feel odd making a big deal about grilling out and sales and going to the beach, etc. when I know there are some families who really are spending that day, and every other day, honoring the memory of their solider who chose to give his/her life to protect mine and my family's. It's not normally a soapbox I get on, and I'm not even intending to get on one now. I'm just reiterating the point that we had no plans for the day and hadn't really expected anything.
But then, I'd told Matt the day before that I was wanting some barbeque chicken and some mac and cheese and some banana pudding (super healthy, yeah?). So, we planned to cook all that on Monday...which just so happened to be Memorial Day. He came home from the grocery store with a huge package of chicken and the idea was somehow birthed that maybe we should invite a few of the students over who probably aren't at home with their families. A simple, no plans, small meal day ended up with a living room full of some of the best people in Houston and seven different kinds of meats, a bucket of dirty rice, a load of mac and cheese, delicious green beans (the only semi-healthy thing on the menu), cornbread, a chocolate-coconut cream pie, banana pudding and cinnamon rolls. We had a great time cooking together, eating together and playing a few rounds of a game that I've decided I'll never play with them again.
It's moments like those...and all the rest of these...that I'm grateful that the Lord has really done a work in my heart in the area of flexibility. All these different occasions and situations have the theme of "things not going according to 'plan'" running throughout. Maybe that's a whole post in itself. But it seems that the Lord has supernaturally given me the grace to take life as it comes and enjoy it.

Even when I get woken up all too early by a child begging for something he sure-as-heck knows he ain't gonna git.