I took Kiddo to his first ever school friend birthday party on Saturday afternoon. I really didn't want to go. It was yet another one of those situations where my social awkwardness really gets in my way. He wanted to go so badly though, and I really wanted him to go, both because I knew he would have fun and because I knew it would be good for him. But the thought of hanging out with a bunch of people I didn't know just didn't sound appealing at. all.
Thankfully though, the little girl who was having the party also has a brother who is in kindergarten too. They are Irish twins and are the same age for about 2 weeks each year.
{Is it offensive to use that term, "Irish twin"? I've never heard it used in a derogatory way, but all of my research on it suggests that it is a negative term. For the record, I don't mean it negatively; I'm just using it to point out that the kids were born less than a year apart. Hope I didn't offend anyone.}
I think it's really neat that even though they are about a year apart in age, their mom decided to start them in school at the same time. Anyway, they were having a joint party, and it just so happens that Kiddo's newest little friend (and consequently our neighbor - YAY!) is in the little boy's kinder class. So, I had someone to talk to at the party! Yay!
I love our neighbors - we have lived across the street from them for about 6 years now, and I have always enjoyed a polite wave and chit chat with the dad, but up until school started I had never even seen the mom. Turns out, she works nights so I guess I missed all of her coming and going from their house all these years. I finally got to meet her though, and she, like her husband, is really great. The even cooler thing is, they go to the same church that we do and they use the same pediatrician. It amazes me that we've lived so close and walked such parallel paths for so long and have never come in contact with each other. Now our boys are in kindergarten together and they are great friends. It is such a blessing to have them so close.
So the party was fun, but I was exhausted after. The boys were too. Port had melt down after melt down that evening and finally getting them to bed that night was such a relief. Sunday morning, my BFF happened to be in town and she blessed me so much by stopping by with coffee and some time to chat. We got to hang out for a little while before the boys and I left for church. It was so awesome to see her.
I took the boys to church by myself. Normally I would never even think to do that because I feel like church should be a family thing. But Kiddo really wanted to go so he could show off his new bible and also tell his teacher about praying the prayer. In as much as I didn't want to take them there by myself, I knew it was important to reinforce Kiddo's decision and so I made myself go. I was so glad I did - of course it was a great blessing. I didn't get to hear all of the sermon because I had to leave the sanctuary several times to cough up a lung or to breathe. But I did get to see a ton of baptisms and hear some great stories of salvation. And of course the music was awesome as always. Miraculously I was able to sing during the worship, even though I have not had a singing voice for weeks (and still don't).
Sunday night, in lieu of our regular Musing Mommies Starbucks meeting, I convinced Kim to come with me to the Apple store so I could get my phone fixed without having to drag the kids with me. Thankfully she was able to get away, so we went out there first, and they fixed my beloved iPhone. It was so nice to have access to everything again - I am very thankful that I had the Musing Mommies Blackberry Torch to use in the interim, but I missed my baby. (props to Kim for getting us hooked up to the AT&T Share Brand Ambassador program - free phone for a year, yes please!) We had a dinner meeting at a local mexican food restaurant, and then Kim thankfully convinced me to go with her out to a local steakhouse to hear some live music by Drew Womack out on the patio.
And then Monday hit.
You know, some people believe that when a person accepts Christ, there will be a period of trials and weird or bad things that happen immediately after. And sure enough, we get a newly cleaned soul in our home and on Monday morning things started happening. haha! Our clothes dryer has been on the blink for a while now. It usually takes 2-3 cycles to get a load dry. And if you open the door in the middle of the cycle, the dryer does not stop anymore. But I deal with it. We obviously don't have the money for a new dryer right now. But on Monday, I put a load of clothes in the washer and started it up. Everything went well until the cycle got to the end of the agitation phase.
You know, to the part where the murky, disgusting, dirty water is supposed to drain and the clothes are to be rinsed and spun? Well, the washer had other ideas and decided to just stop with the tub of dirty water.
Broken clothes washer. Joy.
We think it might be a relatively simple fix - it has a sensor that will stop the washer after the agitation portion if you accidentally leave the lid open. And I guess that sensor went kaput and the washer thinks the lid is up. So now it won't do anything past filling up and agitating. But it does require taking the thing apart, testing the sensor and replacing it. And of course, it is impossible to move with a tub full of water. I need to find out how to drain it and get the top off of it so we can test it. Taking the clothes out of it yesterday was so hard. Wet clothes are heavy.
Then Monday afternoon I was sitting in the car line to pick up Kiddo and when it was time to move the van wouldn't start. Actually, it started and then when I put it in gear it died. It took about 10 tries to get it to run again (it would turn over fine but would die immediately after) and then I rolled a few feet and it died again. Another 4 or 5 tries later it finally kept running and it chugged all the way home. Of course, it was fine after that - not sure what the problem was. Either the fuel pump is about to go out on me or there was some trash in the gas line. That is about all we can figure would have been wrong. It was so embarrassing though sitting in that line trying to get my car to start. Ugh.
Those two things themselves would have normally been enough to get me completely down in the dumps. I am pretty upset about the washer/dryer situation because there is no way we could replace them and of course the van thing is frightening because we really don't have a good solution there either. If something happens to the van, we are just out of luck for a while.
But I made a conscious decision to keep praising my God on Monday; to not let those trials distract me from the glory that is my son's salvation. It was a nice change from the wallowing, complaining road I usually take.
That's not to say I won't go down that road again - I know myself better than that. But I am trying to be stronger. And now the van seems to miraculously be running better. And the washer is still broken, but it doesn't really bother me too much. And that is a good thing.
Until,
D :)
1 comment:
I needed that. I will continue to praise my God even though I've had a bad day! He is so worthy!
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