Only Jesus....
Only Jesus helps me survive some mornings...well, he helps us survive EVERY morning, but you know what I mean. The day after a school holiday...the girl in the house woke up really grumpy and whiny...not two bites into her breakfast, she knocks over her milk...of course it spills over to Carson's book and through the seam in the table...Holly, our Golden Retriever, was Johnny on the spot to help clean it up. I'll be honest, some mornings that would be enough to just set me back for the day. It's an accident, and it's easily fixable..but wrangling three kids for breakfast, school, and morning chores isn't an easy task, and sometimes it's easy to get lost in the busy-ness of the morning. That morning was ok...a few dry and wet small towels, some cleaning spray after Holly had done her part and the table was like "new" again.
Not 5 minutes later that same morning, I've got one burping out of the wrong end...one laughing...and the girl is now holding her nose and whining. One thing that Effie hates...it's that specific type of "burping". Meanwhile, I'm putting up clean dishes, making lunches, making eggs and bacon for me and the husband who has one leg out the door...oh and I'm still in my pajamas. I finally get kids off to their rooms to attempt to get ready... I retreat to mine and switch the radio over to IHeart Radio...Third Day station...it always seems to pick me up when mornings are tough. Today is no different, first song helps keep me grounded when one of the littles lands a hay-maker to the one who fanned one of those booty belches his way. I. REALLY. DO NOT.MAKE.THIS.STUFF UP. I head out to redirect those two crazy boys in the house. We make it out of the house in time and with no yelling. That in and of itself deserves some sort of an award occasionally.
I've got just the two boys...kuddos and standing ovation to the mom's who have only boys...Effie helps break up the non-sense and constant penis talk...you think I'm joking...I've had one laugh and act like his penis is a joystick, a helicopter...whatever you can name. Last week, after the boys returned from squirrel hunting, I walked onto the front porch to find two lifeless squirrels in an embrace...like they were hugging...stiff as a board...ON MY FRONT PORCH. We won't even talk about the things I find left in the toilet...I always assume they leave it for the viewing pleasure of others. Thank goodness Effie puts on those occasional concerts and doles out those sweet little hugs to break up the penis monotony. But thank God for these boys...our house would be a little boring without them here...and baseball is around the corner...my favorite time of the year.
Last Monday was a school holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr...school Tuesday, then snow and ice days for 3 days...kids were excited...parents, that's a toss up. How many moms were glad to see school back in today? Show of hands...honestly. If I had to bet, it would be a tie...half glad to send them back today, and half happy to have them home last week. For the Ward house, we are happy to be out of school. Effie has to work twice as hard as the boys, so any break is a welcome break. Cullen's teacher is probably happy to have him have a snow day since he has more energy than the Energizer Bunny, and Carson is easy-going and is fine with whatever. As soon as I knew their fingers wouldn't fall off, I was shuffling them outside to play in the snow as much as possible. A rotating rack in front of the fireplace to dry gloves, hats and jackets kept them in supply of warm stuff and we were in business. On the first real snow day, we loaded up a make-shift sled and headed out to one of the back pastures for some fun. At one point on that day, I scooped up some snow into my glove and looked at it closely...I could see the perfect outline of the prettiest snowflake, another reminder of how amazing God really is...such a fragile, yet perfect creation.
Whether it's a beautiful snow backdrop on our farm, or just trying to stay sane some mornings (and days) keeping kids on track without any screaming, it's only Jesus that keeps me grounded. And on the days when I don't keep it together (because there are lots of those days too), there's always that bottle of wine in the cabinet.
