But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good. I will say,
‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’
Jonah 2:9
Today, to be honest, sucked.
It was the very first day of the school year, and oh, how I wanted to start off on the right foot.
My alarm went off, and I was up. No lingering, no warm snuggles.
I put on the porridge for breakfast, but when I went to fill the water jug, the tap was empty. We run off a bore now, not town water, so we have to be vigilant in keeping the water tank full. I had only filled it a day ago, so it was odd. I turned the bore on to fill, and used the first appearance of water to start making the muffins for the kids lunches.
Except I had mis-read the packet and didn't realise I needed some milk as well... I had used all the milk to make the porridge. There were to be no gluten and wheat free muffins in their lunches today. No bread either for sandwiches either, since we are trying to keep wheat out as much as possible.
I admit I threw the empty box across the kitchen.
Then, boys informed me, that despite me telling them to lay out their uniforms last night, they had, in fact, not... and didn't have any clean uniform shorts, no less, because they had worn them during the holidays irregardless of me telling them not to. Since the washing machine has been broken, I've only washed what I had to, and I was unaware I needed to wash uniforms before the school year even began. I found a clean pair for Troy in the clean pile of clothes on the couch, but Drew was less fortunate... he went to school in muddy shorts.
On the first day.
I yelled.
Of course, while I was looking for said shorts, the porridge started to burn.
Would you be appalled if I admitted I screamed?
Then, as Beth was getting dressed, we realised that we had purchased the wrong size dress... both of them. It was ridiculously short. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth and hunted out an old one from last year for her to wear before I swapped them over.
Also, Troy's bag was mysteriously broken.
Bethany couldn't find her brush.
Drew, for reasons best known to himself, took his new shirt off and left it on the floor 5 minutes before we had to leave.
It was raining.
No one brushed their teeth
There were swear words. You may be horrified.
Miraculously, they made it to school on time.
I went to put fuel in the car after checking the balance of my credit card. After ensuring there was sufficient funds, I fueled up and went to pay.
My card declined.
THREE times.
They had to write it up as a drive off to balance their tills today. I'll be going back tomorrow to reimburse them, but it was really embarrassing, and also really sucky that they had to write all my details down on the fax.
I get home, with every intention of doing some fantastic cleaning today.
The power goes off.
While I'm cooking eggs for the Smallies lunch.
For the better part of the day.
I tell you, I couldn't make this stuff up.
The power came on a half hour before I had to leave to pick the kids up from school.
Went to put my prescription sunglasses on, to find that a delightful child had scratched them up right in front of my eye.
And yet, in light of all that, I am thankful because
61. When I run out of water, all I have to do is push a button, not walk for 5 miles there and back
62. My children can all go to school
63. They have more than one uniform
64. Not having muffins was only an inconvenience, not a dilemma
65. I am only worried about a gluten intolerance, not malnutrition or starvation
66. We get paid tomorrow... the credit card thing was just an embarrassing hiccup, not a perpetual state of life
67. I have a mountain of unwashed laundry... but it's evidence we have clothes and towels and blankets
68. I was able to play with the baby today without worry over these things
69. My sweet husband, who called me throughout the day to see how I was going, conscious that I so wanted the day to go well
70. The cool weather the rain brought... if it wasn't here when the power went off, it would have been nasty
71. Kind friends who have said I can use their washing machine
72. For the change I had in my purse that bought milk to tide us over
73. For God's gracious shouldering of my coke (cola) dependence...
74. The availability of a optometrist before I go blind
75. Happy children
76. Dinner ready to go with ease
77. An early mark off work for Adam
78. The ability to laugh in the face of it all
79. That tomorrow is a new day
80. That grace is free
Later: I kid you not, I just got home from my firends house who said I could use her machine. I promise you I am not exaggerating.
I took around two loads of laundry, threw one of them in the machine, closed the door, added the powder, then Beks pressed the start button.
Her machine blew up.
